The Final Paradox
by IridiumRing92
Summary: The story has ended... Or has it? A bizarre twist in the timeline has reverted events back to before Caius was killed. Now, as a result of that change, the timeline has begun collapsing in on itself. And so naturally, those traveling the timeline will try to find a way to fix it - the fate of the world seems to rest once again in their hands. Caius/Lightning, somewhat Noel/Serah.
1. Prologue: A Twist in the Timeline

**One quick routine thing... **I don't own any of this, it belongs to Square Enix...** Thanks! :3  
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**Prologue: A Twist in the Timeline**

_You go down the longest road to nowhere_

_You pull it apart and you're just left there_

_~The Longest Road, Morgan Page_

The timeline, from the beginning, had been severely twisted. They all knew that, and yet proceeded to change it, to twist it further. They didn't realize the consequences of their actions until the tear in spacetime started to widen. But it was this that became the nail in the coffin.

At the very end of time, far beyond everything, the skies seemed darker than normal. A lone crystalline warrior stood watching. She could see all yet was unable to act against it.

She saw the new Cocoon with her crystal eyes. She saw the destruction that followed its ascendance. But then, as everything was destroyed, a hole, a void opened in spacetime and dragged these events into the Void Beyond.

She blinked once in disbelief. The visions of the timeline streaming through her mind were gone, replaced by sights of the shores of Valhalla.

_She was no longer crystal_.

The protector and the seeress had ended up elsewhere, back in a time where both were alive. But they both knew their time was short, even considering they'd been granted a little more of it.

For the time-traveling pair had jumped back to another place. They were about to enter a gate that led to a city which had been consumed in the distortion. As they were traveling the timeline for nearly the last time, they were laughing, sure of their success. They paid no attention to the fact that the path of their gate had warped and now opened on the other side of the Sunleth Waterscape instead of Academia.

That was where it all began. The pair had entered a distortion in the timeline that had yet to become a considerable distortion.

Things were there that weren't supposed to be.

"You should come back to New Bodhum," the girl was saying, oblivious, as her feet touched the ground lightly. "Don't worry, they won't mind. Besides, you can't go back to where you came from, can you?"

"I guess not," the young man answered. He was silent for a moment, just as they emerged into the clearing on light feet.

"Where's Snow?" The girl's eyes clouded over with confusion as she gazed upon the scene.

The young man glanced upward and his eyes met with the enemy they'd encountered there before—the massive flan that had destroyed the pillar holding up Cocoon.

He blinked. "You weren't supposed to come back," he muttered at it, one hand reaching for the hilt of his sword. "Cocoon is going to stay right where it is!"

But the flan was no longer interested in the pillar. Instead, it had its gaze focused on something—no, some_one_—in the opposite direction.

"Something's not right here…," the young man said.

He trailed off. "_No!_" the girl screamed, starting to run toward their opponent.

"Serah!" he called after her.

But, with a concerned expression, he realized the problem. He was right. This wasn't part of their plan.

They could both easily see that something was very wrong.


	2. Chapter One: Beginning of the End

**Chapter One: Beginning of the End**

_The nightmares I've been having have arrived_

_They're changing my future_

_~Crush, Pendulum_

Noel ran after Serah into the clearing that had become a battleground.

Snow, Serah's fiancé, looking half-transparent, was smacking flan left and right as they lunged at him. The giant flan had its eyes glued to the thrashing figure, looking at him as if imagining how he would taste.

_This isn't right,_ Noel thought. _Snow isn't supposed to be here. He said so himself._

"Serah, come back!" he called out, but she wasn't listening to him. She drew her bow, firing at flan. They didn't even falter in their attack as she pegged them with arrows.

Snow, however, was unmoved. It was as if he didn't even see Serah there, didn't hear either of their voices. Noel reached for his sword, but stopped with his hand resting against the hilt. There was only one explanation for this.

He never wanted to hear the word again.

_This is a paradox._

"We have to get rid of the flan!" he yelled after Serah. "It's the only way to resolve the paradox!"

She didn't move as he lunged for the giant flan and began to strike it with his sword. Before even a few seconds had elapsed, the flan reached out with one of its slimy hands and struck him hard, sending him flying across the clearing. He gasped in pain, but tried to drag himself into a standing position.

"Serah! Get out of there!" Noel screamed as he looked up. The giant flan was steadily advancing on Serah and Snow, and if he didn't do something…

He leaped into the battle, dodging flan left and right. As the massive flan loomed dangerously close, he pushed Serah to the ground and out of their line of fire. Then, before either of them could even get up, the flan closed the distance between itself and Snow, reaching out and crushing him suddenly to a heap of glimmering, paradoxical dust.

Serah screamed. Then she went limp, her eyes gleaming.

The timeline had changed, and Serah was having visions of its new state.

Noel sat frozen to the spot, stunned as he waited for her to come to again. When she did, she twisted away from him, pushing herself upright. She stood with her back turned for a few moments, a few agonizing moments, her breath labored and uneven.

"Serah?" he whispered.

She spun to face him. "What have you done?" she gasped, tears streaking her face.

He opened his mouth to say something in response; he knew exactly what he had done. He had saved Serah, and erased Snow from the timeline.

"How could you?" Serah cried, calling the words out into the near-silent clearing, no longer talking to Noel. Instead of continuing, she took off into the maze of trees and vines, disappearing from sight.

Noel collapsed to the ground, staring up at the sky. _I saved Serah. I _saved_ her. But she doesn't realize that. She only sees Snow._

He watched the massive flan absorbing more of its kind, growing larger as it flailed around the clearing.

_How do we fix this? How did we cause it in the first place? And where else along the timeline could a paradox have occurred?_

The only thing he could come up with was defeating that flan again. But he was far too exhausted to do that, and he doubted he'd be able to get Serah to do it, regardless of whether it might bring Snow back.

His head suddenly ached. They had been so close, and then someone had gone and caused another paradox. But who else was changing the timeline? One answer stood out in his mind, but he refused to acknowledge it.

If he was right, things were very much more complicated then he'd originally thought.

* * *

A dark figure stood over the ruins, the body of a girl limp in his arms. He tossed his head, glaring out at the buildings below him, and cursed under his breath. It had happened again, but this time he knew it would be the last time.

_She had fallen to her knees before him as her legs buckled under her. Racing toward her, he called out her name. Her gaze fell on him weakly and she tried to form words to explain._

_"The timeline," she whispered. He drew her closer, as he could barely hear her. "The timeline… It's falling apart."_

He gritted his teeth as he laid eyes on her for the last time. As the girl's remains drifted into dust on the wind, he thought he could hear her last words once more.

_"Caius," she said. "There is no way to right the timeline. It has reached its limit."_

Strands of his long hair blew into his face on the cold breeze. The ruins suddenly seemed empty. Contemplating the girl's words, he clenched his fist.

"I _will_ change the timeline," he growled in a low voice. "I will save you…Yeul."

Then he turned on his heel and disappeared.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, the flan was gone.

Noel got to his feet. The Sunleth Waterscape was entirely different now than from when he'd last seen it—before, there had been no end to the plants and creatures surrounding them, but now it looked like Snow had before he'd disintegrated at the hand of the giant flan. Things seemed to be phasing in and out of focus, like they weren't really there. At the back of his mind he wondered if there was any way out of there, if the gates were still intact, but he concentrated most of his attention on Serah.

_Where would she have gone?_

Blinking away his exhaustion, Noel jogged into the clearing and started moving along the nearest path. He tried to distract himself, but the possibilities were coming to him too quickly. What if the gates had somehow been destroyed? What if Serah had left him, or hurt herself? He continued on, increasing his pace.

After turning back several times upon meeting a dead end, he came into a small space surrounded by trees. A gate rested against the wall of tree trunks, wound into their labyrinth. Was it open? Was it the gate they'd come through?

He heard a noise ahead of him, and suddenly he caught sight of a figure moving toward the gate.

"Serah!" Noel shouted.

She glanced over her shoulder at him, then back at the gate, and then finally she collapsed to her knees.

Noel rushed to her, knelt down beside her. "Serah, what is it? Are you okay?"

"It's…it's Snow…" she murmured, shaking her head.

He was at a loss for words. Gently he took her hand in his. "Serah…it's going to be fine. We'll fix the timeline. We'll bring Snow back."

"What can we do?" she asked.

He looked away. "I…I don't know. But there has to be something, right? I mean, we solved hundreds of paradoxes before." Looking closely, Noel thought he could still see the trails that the tears had made on her cheeks. "Maybe the answer's beyond this gate." He shrugged. "You up for it?"

She sighed, squared her shoulders, and looked up at him. "I guess," she said. "Let's go."

Together they stood, faced the gate, and watched as it opened in front of them. Together, they disappeared into the depths of the timeline.


	3. Chapter Two: Limit Break

**Hey... So, it's me IridiumRing92. I have returned! Hopefully you're enjoying this story. Go ahead and leave a comment if you have any suggestions! Thanks! :3  
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**Chapter Two: Limit Break**

_The cycle repeated_

_As explosions broke in the sky_

_All that I needed_

_Was the one thing I couldn't find_

_~BURN IT DOWN – Linkin Park_

A single word formed on Caius Ballad's lips as he stepped down from out of the air. He glanced up at the dark skies and the ruins surrounding him and knew he'd arrived exactly where he'd intended to. He smirked.

"Valhalla."

Higher up, standing guard over the Unseen Realm, was the crystalline warrior. But she was no longer crystallized. She was whole, alive, in the flesh.

Lightning breathed into the icy breeze that suddenly seemed to tear her from her thoughts. The last thing she wanted was to be disturbed, but suddenly, something was different, something was off. She remembered being frozen inside dreams, and then suddenly, she was standing there, at the balcony, looking out at an all-too-familiar face.

"Caius," she hissed. As if on cue, she then watched him as he leaped into the air, coming straight for the spot where she stood.

She drew her sword and rushed at him.

Their blades crossed once more as he closed the distance between the two of them. "And what brings you back to Valhalla?" Lightning muttered.

"You should know very well what brings me here," Caius replied. He was just inches away from her, close enough that she could feel his breath against her skin.

Shivering at the sensation, she disengaged, vaulted to higher ground. Caius stayed right where he was, his trademark smirk dancing across his face.

"You should be dead!" she said, jumping at him. He blocked, their swords clashing yet again.

Then he was pushing her back, forcing her to the edge of the platform. "And you should be crystal."

Lightning executed a perfect flying leap into the air, somersaulting over him and landing on his other side. She slashed out towards his back, but he spun and blocked again before her blade could touch him.

"Tell me why you're here," she gasped through clenched teeth.

Again Caius smiled, a poisonous smile that told of his knowing more than she did. "You can see all in Valhalla. _You_ should tell _me._"

She could feel his distraction—the force of his blade was lessening. "Because you want to die?" she shouted, landing a kick to his stomach that sent him flying.

Lightning sprang into the air, her feet touching the ground next to him as he struggled to bring himself upright again. But before she could ready her sword, Caius kicked his foot out, sweeping her legs out from under her. In an effort to keep her balance she fell forward with her weight on her sword.

It was a wrong move.

"Revenge," said Caius. "The timeline has been altered."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lightning hissed.

He pressed his blade down against the back of her neck. "Yes, you do."

"Well then in that case—" She struggled to regain control of her sword. "—I must need a reminder!"

With those words she swept her hand upward, causing an explosion right behind him. Caius spun around as the stone of the nearest building was blasted in all directions. While he was distracted, Lightning escaped his blade and distanced herself from him. She commanded the gravity with her thoughts, pulled the shards of rock down over his head. With that it was silent—at least for a few moments.

"You cannot beat me," Caius's voice said from out of nowhere.

Lightning turned almost too late to see his shadowy form crashing down upon her. She swung her sword, but managed only to cut through thin air. Before she knew what was happening, she was hit full-on from the front and went sliding to the ground.

The weight still pinned her to the ground as she struggled to regain her composure. When she reached for her sword, she found nothing there, and finally she realized what exactly had happened.

Drawing power to herself, Lightning pushed Caius away hard and stood up. "How dare you try to reenter this place," she said.

He rolled a few times before dragging himself upright. "I had to." His voice was hard, determined. "Someone has caused another distortion in the timeline."

"And how are you so sure it wasn't you?" Lightning retorted.

She took in her surroundings, preparing to defend herself. Her sword had been knocked away, but Caius didn't appear to have his either. Adrenaline coursed through Lightning's veins as she tried to figure out what he was trying to do. _What does he have up his sleeve this time?_

Caius took a few slow steps closer to her, his violet bangs blowing across his face. "Yeul," he said simply.

And then he opened his mouth to continue, only to turn violently away from her with an unmistakable grunt of pain and frustration.

Lightning took advantage of the distraction, glancing around for her sword. She spotted it a few hundred yards away with its blade planted firmly in the sand and ran for it. As she made her move she kept an eye on Caius, but he didn't take notice of her. He was still standing frozen with one hand pressed to his forehead.

While his back was still turned, she dashed at him, drawing her sword. She leaped into the air, ready to strike, but a circle of chaos formed around him and knocked her backward.

Lightning picked herself up and faced Caius again. There was pain in his eyes, a strange combination with the rest of his features contorted in anger.

"What is it?" she asked flatly, no indication in her tone that it was a question.

He didn't answer. Instead, chaotic energy collected around him and concealed his shadow against the backdrop of Valhalla's shores. When it dissipated, Caius Ballad was gone.

_What the hell does he want? _Lightning thought as she turned her back on the scene.

* * *

Caius stepped down out of yet another gate. He knew that he was supposed to be somewhere significant, but as his feet touched the dusty ground, his memory seemed to blank out. He let out a growl of irritation. It was as he had suspected—everything before this time was wiped out. Though he knew he was supposed to remember it, he could find nothing as he searched his memories.

Walking through the ruins of the forgotten time period, he let his thoughts wander. They of course touched things that he didn't want to think about, but instead of pushing them away, he allowed them to.

But there were questions left unanswered. The entire timeline had occupied his mind for ages now. Letting the beginning escape his thoughts didn't seem possible, and yet it had happened all too quickly.

Uncertainty was a foreign feeling to him, and it was swarming his thoughts now. Caius's dark eyes searched the horizon, which seemed to be fading steadily, erasing itself. He gritted his teeth. What could be causing this?

Answers came to him at once. Few made sense. But one stood out to him: Serah and Noel. They had been trying to change the timeline forever, getting in his way time and time again. If their actions were the source of this paradoxical destruction, well…it was just another reason for him to take them out once and for all.

And secondly, where did Lightning stand in this nonsense? Why wasn't she still standing over Valhalla, watching with her crystal eyes? The sudden turn of events had Caius frustrated. Nothing made any sense.

Clenching his fists, he thought of Yeul. If there was one thing he had to do, it was find her.

And so he pushed the image of the distortions from his mind and stood before the gate again.

But Yeul's words echoed in his mind one more time before he left.

_The timeline has reached its limit._

Caius grimaced as he thought of what that could mean.


	4. Chapter 3: Another Gate, Another Paradox

**Weeelllll... I'm back with yet another chapter of The Final Paradox. I feel like the beginning's moving really slowly, so apologies if you think so too.  
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**I edit everything like fifty times, but obviously I don't catch every single error I might have made. If something doesn't make sense to you, let me know so I can fix it. 0_o  
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**And finally, thanks to everybody who's followed The Final Paradox so far!  
**

**By the way, again, everything belongs to Square Enix, not me. I hope you enjoy this chapter and those to come!  
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**Chapter Three: Another Gate, Another Paradox**

_Take this happy ending away_

_It's all the same_

_~Beautiful Things – Andain_

Somewhere else along the timeline, another gate opened and two figures materialized on the shores of New Bodhum. At first it was as if everything was the way it should have been.

"Is this… Is this New Bodhum?" Serah breathed in disbelief.

The two of them strode next to the water until they reached the main village. There was a sudden spring in Serah's step. "Maybe it was all just a dream," she murmured as she walked.

Noel was quiet. He was reluctant to accept the change in their luck. "What did we see, then?" he finally asked. "When we were in the Sunleth Waterscape—"

Just then Serah ran ahead, cutting him off. When he looked up to run after her, he saw that she was moving in the direction of NORA House, toward where her friends would be. A certain person in particular stood on the front steps, watching. Noel could barely suppress his double take. Snow Villiers was both in New Bodhum and the Sunleth Waterscape.

_What did we see?_ he wondered again. _I could have sworn I had done something to erase Snow from the timeline. Was the whole Sunleth Waterscape thing a fluke? Just a dream…or what _could_ have happened? A detour in the timeline?_

He was right to question what he saw. As Serah approached Snow, things began to change rapidly before their eyes. First Snow disintegrated in front of them, just as he had during their earlier incident with the flan. Then, one by one, the members of NORA House started to disappear as well, along with the rest of the residents of New Bodhum. When Noel finally caught up to Serah, who was standing frozen in the middle of her old bedroom with a worried expression, he stumbled.

It felt like a rock had just hit him in the back of the head. Noel staggered, but managed to stay standing. "What the—" he gasped.

When he regained his balance, he blinked a few times. Something was missing. He felt light-headed for a second, but didn't realize what the problem was or what had just happened.

Serah was staring at him. "Noel?" she asked gently. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he muttered, "I'm fine." He started slowly toward the door of the house. When he looked out on New Bodhum, he expected to see the place they'd come to through the gate, the place they'd just encountered.

The village should have been familiar, but instead they set foot on the site of their fears come true.

Serah opened her eyes and stared dazedly at her village, hoping to see the scenery she knew well, but instead her gaze passed over what looked like remnants of death and destruction. Not a soul walked along the once-colorful shores. The houses looked like they'd been ravaged by bombs over and over again. Overall, the place just looked…dead.

Noel's footsteps were quiet as he moved closer to stand beside her. "What did we _do_?" he asked.

They'd both been there, seen the village how it was supposed to be. It had seemed real, unlike the backdrop they stood against now. They were meant to come back to that place, not this one.

Noel turned away, facing the water. He ran a hand through his hair in irritation. "It just doesn't make sense. We defeated that flan; we got Snow out of the Sunleth Waterscape. Yet he and that thing were both where they shouldn't have been. Then he was here in New Bodhum. Then he wasn't. And we're back in this place…that isn't supposed to exist this way."

Serah shook her head. Neither of them could break the silence; they had no answers for their current predicament. Despite their lack of understanding, Serah started to walk slowly through the dust that was once New Bodhum, taking in her surroundings carefully.

Noel followed, though his steps were more impatient, agitated. They took their time making their way through the village. NORA House was completely demolished, but Serah insisted that they take a detour through it again.

She held back tears as she witnessed everything. "What's happened?" she gasped as she stood on the front porch looking out at the dusty remnants. "Why is New Bodhum like this?"

"Something's really messed up," Noel said quietly. "We've got to figure out what's wrong."

They began their search on the remainder of the village, looking for something, anything that might help.

But as they stood at the edge of the water, on the docks, the sky ahead of them changed. A dark space distorted the light grey, chalky clouds, expanding at once and swallowing up the water and the sun. Serah stared at it in astonishment for a split second before Noel grabbed her arm, shouting, "Run!"

"What's going on?" Serah gasped as he dragged her along. "What is that?"

"I don't know, but we have to get back to the gate," Noel responded breathlessly, "or it's going to take us with it!"

The void continued to consume behind them. Serah looked back and watched New Bodhum disappear into the space beyond, the darkness without shape. She didn't understand what was happening, but it terrified her more than anything. Her village had been whole, and then right in front of them it had deteriorated into nothingness.


	5. Chapter Four: Ripple Effect

**IridiumRing92 here, with Chapter Four of The Final Paradox. I've been super preoccupied with other stuff lately, so I haven't been able to read many other fanfics. :P Hopefully that's something I'll be doing this week.  
**

**But anyway, here we are. I know I've been finding weird song lyrics that go with every chapter, but I had none this week. Thus my use of Worlds Collide from FFXIII-2. And while we're on that topic...I don't own any of this stuff.  
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**So, once again, a big thank you to everyone following this story, because you're actually paying some sort of attention. XD Enjoy!  
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**Chapter Four: Ripple Effect**

_Paradoxes must break_

_This is the path I must take_

_My destiny may change your fate_

_The pain my heart feels is my strength_

_~Worlds Collide_

Caius moved swiftly and acted quickly. He knew where he'd last seen Yeul, and he doubled back to that time and place, resetting things as he went. If he could shield her from her fate, maybe he could go on with what he'd been planning.

He set foot in the ruins with a sense of finality in his actions. He had to be able to do something about this.

Seconds later he was with Yeul, but his mind was elsewhere. Did he have to change something to prevent her death? Had he changed anything at all? What about Serah and Noel? Had they counteracted him again?

Minutes went by without conversation. He had his back turned for a while, staring up at the ruins jutting into the sky. Yeul did the same, saying still nothing.

Then Caius turned abruptly to face her. "Yeul," he whispered.

"Yes?" she asked softly.

"We must leave here."

He expected her to seem confused, to ask him why. Instead, she shook her head, a tranquil expression on her face. "No, Caius," she said. "There is no reason."

His glare was hard and emotionless. "We have every reason."

"Leaving will not get us anywhere," Yeul answered. "Our fates are the same wherever we are."

"What do you mean?" Caius asked. His voice was flat, but his actions spoke otherwise. He took an anxious half-step toward her as though he was fighting himself, trying not to look paranoid.

"The timeline," she said, and her voice trailed off into a whisper.

Things suddenly looped back into déjà vu. Yeul fell to her knees before his eyes, and he couldn't stop himself from calling out to her just as he had done before. Her last words spiraled around him again.

Her voice was barely audible as she attempted to speak to him again. Caius leaned towards her though he had no desire to hear what she was saying. "There is no way to right the timeline… It's falling apart."

When she was gone, he stormed back through the gate. Yeul had died before him again. As if there was nothing he could do about it. He hadn't changed anything by going to Valhalla. There was only one answer to his problem: Find Serah and Noel and make sure they would never interfere with him again. They had to be the ones who'd twisted the timeline. Who else would have done it?

Caius then opened his eyes to find himself in Valhalla.

His notorious opponent stood over him, glaring as she usually did in his presence. But the image confused him. He'd stepped through that gate after witnessing again Yeul's untimely demise, not intending to end up back here.

"Caius Ballad," Lightning said with a note of annoyance in her voice. "Why can't you leave the timeline alone?!"

"I have left the timeline alone," he responded bitterly. "It's your _friends_ who refuse to stop changing it."

"I just witnessed the change." Lightning's face stayed blank as she defied his claim. "It came from the Paddra Ruins."

Caius worked hard to keep his face straight like a mask, while underneath his emotions swirled like poison. Of course, he'd just been in the ruins. But just going back there couldn't have been enough to change the timeline, could it have? Could it have saved Yeul?

"You can't save her," Lightning hissed. "You've erased her."

He paused for only a second before standing up and drawing his sword. Within moments their blades were scraping against each other again as they dived into yet another fight.

"If you keep this up," Lightning informed him between breaths, "you'll destroy everything."

"And how do you know that's not what is necessary?" he answered, smirking.

She had no answer for that except to lash out at him again. They were at each other's throats for a long time afterwards. Caius kept his emotions veiled as he usually did while he fought, but he could tell Lightning was starting to get a little agitated with him. If he kept it up long enough, could he finish her?

With that small promise of a thought he started to fight harder. It was the only way to get out of Valhalla after all—what else would he do, retreat and run for the gates?

But their battle never reached its climax. Instead, as they tried to impale each other another time, an explosion rocked the ground and the sky around them and blasted them apart.

Caius recovered as quickly as he could, but things didn't seem quite right when he did. Lightning pulled herself onto her feet a few hundred yards away, still glaring at him, but she too had a slight expression of confusion on her face. She managed to hide it when she noticed his eyes burning into hers.

They stood there looking directly at each other for a minute. Their standoff was on hold. Something had happened, and they were both trying subconsciously to figure it out. Caius reached back through his memory until he found a rift. There was a void in the middle of recent entry.

It took him a second to make the connection between that memory and similar ones from a time much earlier.

"Yeul," he muttered intensely. Something had happened between him and Yeul, then, recently. But that was as much as he could remember.

"What have you done this time?!" Lightning asked, dashing toward him with her sword drawn.

"I have done nothing yet," Caius replied as he prepared his counterattack. "But you will _die_, mark my words. Whatever you are doing to the timeline shall be reversed."

"You're the one who's going to die," Lightning told him, glaring back levelly at him. "You—"

Another explosion split them apart and sent them both flying. Caius hit the dirt hard, tasting dust and blood when he landed. This time there was a significant difference in his memory.

Dark hatred resonated through him as he recognized it again. There was something else he was supposed to remember about Yeul, but it just wasn't there. _Someone is erasing Yeul from the timeline._

"Why are you trying to do this?" he growled at Lightning. "Why do you try to take her away from me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she repeated. But there was a glimmer of uncertainty deep under her mask of confidence.

Rather than responding, he drew his sword for the thousandth time and they lapsed back into fighting.

Finally they stood apart from each other, breathing hard, yet still poised to swing at each other. Caius knew that their battle wasn't going to force Lightning to answer any of his questions, but he stood his ground anyway. Instead of flying at him with her blade outstretched, though, she hissed, so quietly that it was nearly inaudible: "What is it you're after?"

"I must know who is twisting the timeline," he said, straightening his stance.

"What have you lost?" she asked.

The question caught him off guard. A hint of a smirk appeared on her face, and he knew she'd done it on purpose. He rearranged his expression into a neutral one and answered, "You know very well who I've lost."

Her eyes searched his face. "Do you understand?" she said quietly. "We've both lost our memories. Neither of us is changing the timeline."

Common ground between himself and his eternal opponent was the last thing Caius wanted. "Enough."

She looked as if she might reply, but instead she stepped back and readied her sword.

And they launched into battle again.


	6. Chapter Five: Unseen Abyss

**Hey, I'm back, with the next chapter of The Final Paradox!  
**

**I wanted to say thanks so much to everyone who reviewed or followed or favorited this week. Don't worry, your questions will be answered. Eventually. :3**

**Your reviews really helped me go forward with the story (no seriously, they gave me extra ideas), but of course I'm still in need of ideas for future chapters! Don't hesitate to tell me if there's something that should be said.  
**

**Anyway, enough about me... Here's Chapter 5. Hope you continue to read and enjoy The Final Paradox!  
**

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**Chapter Five: Unseen Abyss**

_Sometimes I don't know where we're going_

_Sometimes I feel you should be crawling back to me_

_Time is ticking by without us knowing_

_Before we know it, it will be too late to see_

_~Guilt – Nero_

Noel and Serah crashed through another gate, Noel barely managing to land on his feet as they were both thrown headfirst out of it. Serah wasn't as lucky. He offered his hand as she tried to pull herself upright. Almost hesitantly, she took it.

"Where are we?" she asked, glancing around. They were surrounded by rock walls, in a small, secluded area. The gate likely couldn't be seen from outside.

"Looks like Yaschas Massif," Noel said. He took a few steps toward the crumbled edge of a stone wall, peering out to look at the rest of the scene on which they'd arrived. A few soldiers paced through the soft grass and across rock platforms. Somewhere in the distance he could see the excavation site brimming with brightly colored Academy uniforms. Everything here was functioning like normal, with no evidence of the collapse they'd seen in New Bodhum.

"Hey, Serah. Let's go over there and check it out," Noel said, gesturing beyond the cliffs toward the excavation site. "Maybe they've seen something about this paradox."

Serah sighed quietly. "Okay," she replied.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Then Serah stopped near one of the cliffs. She stared down at the drop into nothingness below with an expression of loss and confusion on her face.

Noel stood back, watching her. He called out to her, but she was lost in her own thoughts. Finally, after a few minutes, her voice pierced the delicate silence.

"…Noel?" she asked quietly.

He turned to look at her. "Yeah?"

"I…I feel like something's missing. Don't you?"

His gaze was puzzled, uncertain. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…" Serah seemed to struggle to find the right words. "I think I should remember someone. Someone important to me. But I…I…can't remember."

He said nothing for a minute. Then he muttered in agreement, "Yeah. I know what you mean."

Noel had tried to keep his thoughts from it, but lately something in the back of his mind had been bothering him. Ever since they'd fled New Bodhum, he had felt exactly like Serah had: as though something was missing from his memory. But he hadn't let himself think about it long enough to figure out what it was.

Serah turned away from the cliff and continued walking toward their destination. Noel's thoughts didn't change direction so easily. He wondered where the gap in his memories had come from, along with what had formerly filled that gap.

Closing his eyes briefly, he tried to remember what he was missing. Something about…

_Caius._

His breath caught. He was so close. Of course he remembered Caius, but what he didn't remember was who else had always been with Caius in the past.

They soon emerged into the Academy's territory. The excavation site and the surrounding areas were full of people as they had been the first time they'd come to the Yaschas Massif. Snippets of conversation floated around them.

"…they disappeared…"

"…were supposed to be communicating with them."

"Time travelers…"

Noel stopped, causing Serah to nearly run into him. "Wait," he muttered.

"What is it?" Serah asked.

Noel then turned to one of the Academy officials pacing near them. "Excuse me, have you heard anything about any recent paradoxes?" he questioned innocently.

"Yeah, actually, I have. Everybody's been going insane because stuff from different time periods that they've been analyzing has started disappearing. Why?" the guy answered.

"Well, I've just been hearing things lately," Noel told him. "Anyway, thanks." He started to walk toward the excavation site.

"Wait, sir. Could I see your ID?" the Academy official called back.

The two of them doubled back quickly to show the card they'd obtained a while ago. That, at least, had not disappeared.

When they had gotten midway up the ramp to the excavation site, where it was quieter, Noel pulled Serah aside and said, "There's something…off about this place. We just saw New Bodhum get completely obliterated, and here only a few things have gotten misplaced." He waved the ID card in the air. "I've got a question, then – how long until…"

He suddenly fumbled with the card, and it fell to the ground, dissolving in a flash of light.

"Shoot," Noel hissed, clenching his fists. "This is wrong… This is all wrong."

He turned his back and looked out on the Academy officials below them.

Serah's breath came short and shallow. "Noel, what just happened? Why did it just disappear like that?" she gasped.

He didn't say anything, just kept his back turned to her.

"Noel?"

He took a deep breath before responding. "Serah, if New Bodhum was sucked into that distortion, then why weren't you taken with it?" he asked quietly.

"W-we escaped," Serah said. "Before it could take us."

"But Serah, that's the thing. It's your village. You came from there. Everyone else just stopped _existing._" He shook his head. "But you didn't."

She blinked, clasping her hands together in front of her. "I – I don't know." Were they really just delaying the inevitable by coming here, through another gate? _Should I have been taken by the distortion?_ she wondered, afraid.

"Forget it. You're here. We have to figure out what's going on," Noel said quickly, spinning on his heel and stalking away from the site and back toward the outer parts of the ruins.

They reached the edge of the ruins in a few minutes. It was surprisingly quiet throughout the place, and they hadn't run into any monsters at all. Finally they stopped, climbing on one of the rocks that were scattered around the small clearing.

"I just don't understand it," Serah murmured.

"Me neither." Noel sighed. "But it doesn't matter. We'll figure it out eventually," he said, trying to reassure himself as well as Serah.

After a while, Serah got up, walking ahead of him, staring out at nothing in particular. Her steps slowed as she walked, until she stumbled and collapsed to her knees.

"Serah!" Noel cried, running toward her. "Serah, what's wrong?"

He knelt down beside her, took one of her hands in both of his and looked her in the eye. "What is it?" he asked again. "Are you alright?"

"It's okay, Noel," she murmured, her eyes fluttering closed. "Don't worry about me…"

"Serah, no!" he screamed.

Then her hand slipped from his grasp. It dissipated into shadowy dust along with the rest of her, chased away into nothingness by the wind.

"Serah…," Noel gasped, staring out at the ruins. "Dammit… I was right."

He stayed kneeling in that spot for a minute or two, silent and motionless as a statue, but then he came to a resolution. He stalked off toward the gate from which they'd come.

_I can't lose you, Serah. Not now._


	7. Chapter Six: Exploitation

**And here I am with another chapter! :3  
**

**Everyone writes longer chapters than me... What's with that?  
**

**Anyway, hope you're still enjoying this story! I WON'T REST UNTIL IT'S FINISHED. 0_o  
**

**Well, back to The Final Paradox. Here's Chapter Six!  
**

* * *

**Chapter Six: Exploitation**

_I twisted the knife and opened your eyes_

_Ah, she looked into your eyes_

_And saw what lay beneath_

_Don't try to save yourself_

_The circle is complete_

_~Hold Your Colour – Pendulum_

Caius stepped back and stared grimly at his opponent. She stood with her sword still drawn, her breath coming fast. Though she stood there in the flesh, there was still a look about her that she and her crystal statue had shared. They were both beautiful, dangerous, determined. Both of them were still fighting, unwilling to back down.

"Why do you continue to play this game?" she asked.

"Because of _her_," Caius replied. "I will fight for eternity to save her."

It was the same answer, every time. "She's gone, Caius," Lightning informed him in a low voice. "There is no reason for this."

"Enough of these lies," he muttered and charged at her with his sword.

Their blades sent sparks flying as they went at each other with a barrage of blows. Lightning blocked, pushing Caius back. She stayed silent and only focused on the fight.

The battle took them up on the cliffs. Neither looked down, and yet both kept expertly away from the edges, springing and leaping between rocks and still managing to stay on their toes. They vaulted upward, their blades meeting in midair. Then they landed on opposite sides of the cliff.

"I'm amazed you've kept up this long," Caius mused, smirking.

"If you don't stop talking, I'll cut out your tongue," Lightning answered.

They each tensed, readying for the next bout, but instead vibrations rumbled beneath their feet. At first they were minimal, but within the minute they'd grown to earthquake-size proportions. Lightning sprang from the cliffs, landing lightly on her feet near the shores below. Caius followed.

"It's the timeline again," Lightning muttered, but showed no sign of being affected. Caius made the mistake of thinking that the tremors meant nothing. He then stumbled backward in surprise, falling to his knees. "Yeul…," he gasped.

Lightning started toward him, but a sphere of chaos formed around him and knocked her backward. She blasted the sphere apart with bolts of lightning from high up in the clouds. Then she moved in for the kill.

"No," Caius growled, his head bent so that he looked directly at the ground, his sword planted in the sand. Suddenly he turned his face to Valhalla's skies and screamed. "Yeul… _Yeul!_"

Lightning stood behind him with the tip of her sword pressed to his back.

A few seconds of complete silence passed. Then Caius's voice quietly sounded, breaking through the quiet. "Move, and I'll blast you to pieces."

"I could kill you before your muscles tense."

"You don't have the strength."

"I don't need it. Valhalla will do things _for_ me."

Before he could ask what she meant, another tremor, this one an explosion, put distance between them. Caius clenched his teeth and pushed himself out of the dirt. When he looked up, though, Lightning was standing above him. She had her blade at his throat before he could say anything.

"I don't want to kill you, Caius Ballad."

He kept his glare hard, showing no emotion. _But what does she mean? Of course she wants to –_

"There is no way to right the timeline. It's falling apart," Lightning continued. With her last words, there was an amused look on her face. Though keeping his feelings from showing, he found himself in a moment of confusion. Something about what she had said triggered a warning deep in his subconscious.

"If we don't do something, everything will be completely erased," she explained. "We're the only ones who can see the entire timeline. Or should I say, _you're_ the only one."

Caius's eyes narrowed. "What do you expect me to do?" he asked. "Do you expect me to become your ally? That will never happen."

Lightning held his gaze. "Think, Caius. You remember everything, don't you? But everything isn't there anymore."

She was right. He started to say something, but words failed him.

"I can't kill you until we fix it." There was almost a hint of a smirk there. He hated the fact that she seemed to know more than he did. His fingers twitched, reached for the hilt of his sword, but her eyes caught the movement. She pressed her blade harder into his skin.

"So what is it you want from me?" His voice was flat and skeptical.

Lightning's eyes were hard, demanding, like daggers of stone. "We have to keep the timeline from deteriorating."

Caius paused a moment before answering. "'We', you say. What are you suggesting?"

"I think you know."

Neither of them moved for a long time. They stared at each other, debating whether it would be a better choice to kill each other now, or actually consider the possibility of trying to put the timeline back together.

"Time deserves to be destroyed," Caius said finally. "There is nothing we can do."

"Hold on," Lightning answered. "This isn't what you wanted originally. You've lost people important to you, and not only will time be destroyed, but everything else. Nothing will be left, not even Valhalla."

He studied her for a minute. "Lies," he finally stated. "There is no truth in—"

She took a step forward, digging her sword into his throat hard enough that she might draw blood. "Do you want to know the truth?" she asked. He was in no condition to respond, so she drew bolts of lightning down from the sky and dropped back as they shocked him. Caius collapsed immediately to the ground, nearly crying out as electricity coursed through his limbs. Lightning sheathed her own blade, picked up Caius's sword, and called for her Eidolon to take them both up to Etro's throne.

* * *

Lightning contemplated the destruction she was witnessing. As Odin departed them and disappeared against Valhalla's shadowy skies, she could see that even his power was weakening. Would he disappear from the timeline and her memory too?

Before she could get too deep into her thoughts, she heard something shift against the stone floor. Lightning turned to see the formerly unconscious Caius get to his feet. Anger flared in his eyes when he saw her, and he reached for his sword only to find it wasn't there.

Lightning held up the blade for him to see. "Go ahead. Try it," she challenged.

But he stood his ground, didn't move. "What do you _want_?" he asked. It hardly sounded like a question.

"Look," she said, gesturing to the sky behind them. They could see the entire timeline as if it was a vision in an Oracle Drive. And yet the first segment was completely missing. "Do you understand now, Caius?"

He only stared straight ahead at the timeline, studying it, seeming to be in no mood to answer her. Then, as she watched, he made a move that was uncharacteristic of him. He reached a hand out in front of him as though he could touch the timeline, swept his fingers through the air to follow the collapse that was happening right before their eyes. She heard him exhale slowly. Finally, after several long moments, he turned and faced her.

"Fine," he growled. "I accept."

A smile twitched at the corner of Lightning's mouth. "I knew you'd say that," she answered. "Come on. I know where to start."

Caius opened his mouth to demand his sword back, but just as he did so, she yelled out to her Eidolon, and Odin materialized in the air to confiscate it from him.

"Let's go," Lightning said, stifling her smirk while she beckoned for him to follow.


	8. Chapter Seven: A Shadow of Valhalla

**Good afternoon... IridiumRing92 is back. :3  
**

**Thanks to everyone who followed this week! Other than that, it's been a pretty uneventful week in terms of The Final Paradox.  
**

**I don't really know what else to say, so on to Chapter Seven.**

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**Chapter Seven: A Shadow of Valhalla**

_Creatures keep coming_

_Reaching within_

_Stealthy they climb from the dark_

_Searching for wisdom_

_Searching for truth_

_~Gravity Hurts – Unknown_

As he stepped into the gate, Noel tried to get control of his emotions. He had his hands clenched into fists, but still they shook as a result of his anger. And something else that he hated to acknowledge – fear.

He knew the gate wouldn't take him to New Bodhum, even though that was where it had brought them from. New Bodhum was gone. All he knew was that he had to get to Serah, and this was the only way he could think to do it.

Noel closed his eyes. Serah's face appeared in his mind, her voice saying, _Don't worry about me. It's okay. _The very memory of it caused him pain.

What if he was doomed to be taken by a distortion too? Worse yet, what if he was cursed to be stranded in the timeline for the rest of his life without her? He let the gate pull him into its depths, through the timeline, with no idea where he would end up next. He didn't _care_.

Noel was thrown to his knees out of the gate. He grunted as he landed hard against the stone. For a second he only focused on standing up, brushing himself off, and ignoring his bruised knees. Then he looked up and stared at his surroundings, and his eyes widened as he realized where the gate now led.

_The Void Beyond._ _I'm in the Void Beyond._

He wondered if this was what happened to Serah and everything else that had been sucked into the distortion. And if so, then had he dived right into the middle of that distortion?

Dismissing the thought, he started moving toward the center of the area.

The Void Beyond now looked exactly like Valhalla, except nothing moved that Noel could see. He was standing on the shore now, with gray sand and dark stone surrounding him. The only difference, which he soon noticed, was that instead of buildings ahead, there was a circle of rubble. It looked like something had exploded there.

As he walked, he could hear strange noises around him. A sound that resembled that of the wind streamed in the background. Voices seemed to float through the air, but he couldn't make out what they were saying. And on top of that –

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a mob of nektons circled him, chirping and writhing. He was startled at first, but knew the creatures could barely attack, even collectively like this. With a few slashes of his sword, they dissolved into nothingness.

Noel stopped a second to catch his breath, and then started off at a jog toward the center of the Void. He never let Serah leave his mind as he ran.

When he paused again later, he thought he could hear the voices growing stronger. One stood out in particular to him, seeming to fill his head, confusing him. It was Lightning's.

"Noel Kreiss."

He spun around, expecting to see no one, to attribute the whole thing to his imagination. But Lightning truly did stand in front of him.

"Lightning?" he asked breathlessly.

Her voice echoed in the warped air of the Void as she continued speaking to him:

"Noel, I am in Valhalla. I cannot hear you, but listen to me. You have to leave the Void. The timeline is being destroyed, as you have seen. If we do nothing, time itself will perish, along with everything else." Her gaze was almost blank, like she couldn't even see him. "Be cautious. Things that were pulled out of the timeline stay in the Void Beyond for only a short time before they're wiped out forever. If you don't find Serah in time, it could set off another round of destruction."

Then her eyes narrowed. "And I warn you, if you run into Caius, do not attack him."

"What—?" Noel began, but before he could even get the word out, Lightning had vanished.

He had planned to keep moving towards the center of the Void, but now he just slid down against one of the stone walls and lost himself in his thoughts. Lightning's words echoed through his head.

_If I run into Caius? I _killed_ Caius. What's she talking about?_ he wondered. Lightning was talking about Caius like he was alive…but Noel vividly remembered his blade plunging through Caius's heart. Those pieces didn't fit together no matter what.

After a minute the most potent part of her warning came back to him – about how Serah could be erased if he didn't hurry. _I can't waste time staring into space! I have to get to Serah._

He continued on through the Void. Swarms of nektons and other Voidspawn creatures assaulted him, and one by one he fought them off. The battles just didn't stop, though – in fact they kept getting worse and worse.

Noel stopped again to catch his breath, resting his hands on his knees. Sweat was running down his face. He thought he might have been safe for a minute or two, but just then he heard the scratching of talons on stone and whipped around just in time to see the next wave of enemies, these larger in size and already preparing their attacks. He drew his sword – just a second too slowly. His opponents blasted him with fire, an attack he was unprepared to defend.

Finally he charged them, slamming all of them with his sword and sending them flying into oblivion. _Got it,_ he thought in triumph right before another swarm jumped him from behind.

Noel pushed on through the battles, struggling to move ahead into the rest of the Void. But there were too many of them, and only one of him. Soon he collapsed to his knees, exhausted, unable to fight any longer. He closed his eyes as the hundreds of them converged on him.

Then—"Noel!" a voice screamed.

He looked up, and through the mass of metallic wings and limbs, he could see a familiar figure waiting for him higher up in the Void. _Serah._ She held no weapon, couldn't fight them off for him, but just the sight of her was enough to send strength into his body. Just enough to get away.

"Don't give up!" she called out to him.

He stood up, slicing through a few of the surrounding monsters, and sprinted as fast as he could out of there. They gave chase, so he leaped up onto a rock to throw them off. From there he climbed to higher ground.

Noel looked up into Serah's eyes. He started to say something, but she grabbed his hand, saying, "Let's get out of here," and pulled him behind her, going deeper into the Void.

They finally quit running and looked out on the gray scenery of the Void, somewhere high above the rest of the stone buildings. Noel barely glanced at the surrounding area, just turned to Serah and embraced her, pulled her close to him.

"Serah," he gasped. "You're safe."

"You are too," she said, sounding somewhat surprised, perhaps by his sudden actions. She raised her eyes to his and asked, "How did you get here? How did _I _get here?"

"I saw Lightning," Noel answered, releasing her. "She told me that the timeline is being erased. She said people who are erased come here before they're taken out of existence." He turned from her, pacing back and forth as he rethought everything Serah's sister had told him. "Which means—"

"Was I erased, Noel?" she whispered fearfully.

"Not yet," he told her, spinning around to face her again. "And if we get out of here in time, you won't be."

"N…Noel," she said quietly after a few moments of silence, "I saw Snow. But I don't remember him anymore. He's gone." Tears filled her eyes as she explained. "All I remember was that he was important to me, but…"

"It's okay, Serah," Noel reassured her. He reached for Serah's hand, but she jerked it away.

"It's not okay," she said hotly. "I don't know what to do…!"

"I'm sorry." He bit his lip, unsure of what to say. "Serah… We can change it. We can bring him back." It was a last resort, and he knew the chances were slim that she'd agree.

"But we can't," Serah cried. "You told me so. He's gone forever." She twisted away from him and stood close to the cliff, looking out on the expanse of the Void again.

Noel waited until she had grown quiet, and then approached her slowly, touching her shoulder lightly. "You have me," he whispered into her ear. "Will you stay with me, Serah?"

There was another second or two of silence, but finally she looked up at him and said, "Yes, Noel. I'm sorry. I'll stay with you."

This time, when he reached for her hand, she took it.


	9. Chapter Eight: Fighting Fate

**Hey guys! Sorry about the late post today, my internet magically stopped working on me this morning.  
**

**But here we are. Caius and Lightning are back, and still quite confused.  
**

**One last thing: I don't own any of this. And... Thank you to everyone following The Final Paradox! :D  
**

*****Update*** I forgot something else. 0erbayunFang, extra thanks for the continued comments!  
**

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Fighting Fate**

_Release_

_Let me take on eternity_

_Taking one more step and let it rip through me_

_I'm building up my nerve_

_~Bye Bye Babylon – Cryoshell_

There was a tense silence between Lightning and Caius as they strode through Valhalla. Lightning had made it clear she was the one with control over the situation. She walked ahead of him, even when that could have given him a chance to ambush her. She seemed confident that he wouldn't try anything.

The truth was, she was right. Caius's thoughts were spinning circles through his head, reminding him that if he did try anything, he couldn't be sure what the consequences would be. But he wasn't absolutely convinced by her plan. They had fought for a long time, and he still felt it was his duty to kill her.

Finally, they reached the edge of Valhalla, near the shores. There were a few gates clustered together on the sand. Lightning faced Caius and said, "If you change the future, you change the past. Right?" She didn't expect an answer, Caius knew, but he answered anyway.

"That is correct." He watched her carefully, waiting for her next suggestion.

She shifted her weight to one foot. "If we change the future, is it possible that we can bring the destroyed parts of the timeline back?" This question, rather than looking for a fulfilling answer, was looking for his opinion.

"Of course not," he answered coolly.

She watched him, as if waiting for him to clarify. She was trying to draw ideas out of him. But he refused to say anything more.

"Then we can find a way to prevent the damage," she ventured.

Caius didn't meet her gaze. He was still nursing the gap in his memory as though it were a nearly fatal wound, and vowed to hide that behind whatever kind of veil he could craft.

The dark silence overflowed for a moment, an awkward gap in the conversation. But an ominous note seemed to ring in the background – an omen of things to come. And it wasn't unfounded.

Just as Lightning began to continue the conversation, a massive bolt of shadow slammed into the gates behind them. They both looked up at it sharply, as it became an impossible distortion and started to spread. Lightning stood frozen for a second too long. The shadowy distortion lashed out at her, coming too close, when –

"Ugh!" she grunted as the air was knocked out of her lungs. She went sprawling to the ground, a crushing weight keeping her there for a few moments before she was free. Caius rose to his feet beside her, emotionlessly offering her a hand.

_Caius pushed me away from that distortion. Caius just…_

Lightning knew exactly what had just happened. But it didn't even seem possible in her mind. Had the distortion infiltrated their minds as well as their physical surroundings? With a confused look on her face, Lightning stood up from the dusty ground, refusing wordlessly to take his hand.

_Caius just saved me._

"What _is_ that?" she asked, looking over at the distortion. The mass of shadow was reaching out with black tentacles and consuming the gates. If she stepped too close to it or stared at it too long, her vision started to blur. With that she averted her gaze.

But the only other thing she could turn her eyes to was Caius.

"It is erasing the gates which should no longer exist," he muttered, a note of regret in his voice. Lightning wasn't even sure whether he had realized it. But she felt the same way he did – like there were things just beyond the edges of her mind, things she should have remembered but couldn't.

When she looked up again, Caius was striding along the water's edge. Meanwhile, the distortion dissipated, leaving a ravaged circle of dust in its wake. Lightning shook her head, wondering if she'd ever thought this would be at all easy.

She followed him for a while, trailing after him in his wake of silence. As she did so, questions kept running through her mind, predominantly, _Where the hell does he think he's going?_

It was a while before that question was answered. But then Caius stopped. He wasn't even anywhere near a gate, Lightning noticed, but was near one of the quieter parts of the shoreline. In the back of her mind, she considered the fact that it might be a trap. Still, she stayed where she was.

Caius sighed. It was a nearly inaudible sound, yet full of resignation and exasperation, things Lightning probably shouldn't have heard from him. Her response was to approach him, sword drawn at her side just in case.

"Leave me," was his answer. "We are done here."

"No, we're not. That distortion can't go overlooked. There might be others." Lightning hated the thought of cooperating with this man. But on the other hand, she refused to watch over Valhalla alone.

His silence seemed to be another sign of resignation.

The next few minutes were tense with a lack of conversation, and Lightning found herself unable to avoid the question any longer. She turned to Caius, her eyes skeptical as they burned into his, and asked blatantly, "Why did you save me?"

Surprise crossed his face – as if he hadn't expected her to address what he'd done. He tried to mask it, but there was no undoing his look of sheer confusion. Instead of answering, though, he turned his back and distanced himself from her.

Lightning wanted to demand that he answer. She wanted to press her blade into his throat and threaten him until she knew he would cooperate. But she also knew that almost no amount of torture would promise that, not after the events of the original timeline had granted him the Heart of Chaos. Caius would rather erase himself than work with her.

Or so she had thought.

"Those that I've forgotten," he finally said. "You remind me of them."

"What—"

"Forget it," Caius snapped, and stalked off away from the water's edge.

Lightning watched him with a mask of stone. Something was obviously wrong. Caius's temper was unpredictable, he had just saved his eternal opponent from certain death, and he was demonstrating a strange amount of emotion. She decided she would have to follow him, and find out what his problem was. After all, the fate of Valhalla likely depended on the two of them.

Instead of tailing him directly, she went up to Etro's throne so she could oversee things and think about what had happened. _The gates led to some place early in the timeline,_ she thought. _If they were erased, then those areas and time periods were erased, too._

She stepped out onto the edge of the stone platform and tried to clear her thoughts. Down below her, in the ruins of another temple, was Caius. He was pacing the debris-covered structure agitatedly. Lightning watched him in an effort to find out what was going on in his mind.

Caius grimaced and shook his head. From way above, Lightning kept her eyes glued to the scene, even though she felt like she shouldn't have been watching him. He continued to pace back and forth, clenching and unclenching his fists as if he wished he had his sword. Lightning smiled to herself at this. That was one victory she knew she'd won.

After a minute or so of standing back, Lightning jumped down from her perch and rolled to a standing position in the temple where Caius stood. He whirled around and stared at her, but quickly veiled his thoughts with his usual emotionless mask.

"Caius," Lightning said, breaking the stiff silence.

She thought he was going to turn his back on her and ignore her again, but he didn't. Instead he replied quietly, "What is it?"

"We have to do something about this. Those gates disappeared for a reason." Her tone was unflinching, demanding.

"So the Paddra Ruins were erased," he said under his breath after a second.

"Yes." Lightning was still somewhat wary of speaking to him, but at least the conversation made sense, unlike the vague comment he'd given her after he'd saved her from the distortion.

"Those gates linked Valhalla to the ruins," Caius continued. "We must travel through the next gate if we wish to stop the timeline's destruction."

Lightning could hardly believe what she was hearing. Caius was planning where to go to fix the timeline. Earlier, she would have expected him to cut her throat before saying any of those words.

Clearly something had changed. Maybe since their memories were being lost, he was losing the reasons he'd had to kill her. Maybe he had finally resigned himself to being under her control, without his sword and everything.

She found it hard to believe any of that.

"We should find the next gate, then," Lightning replied. "If the ruins were erased, then the next area we should check out is…"

"Oerba," he said.

Visions of what had happened while they were changing the timeline surfaced in both of their minds – Caius showing up in Oerba, his fight with Noel and Serah, and the words that had passed between them before they parted ways.

_I am not the Caius you once knew._

_To change history is a sin._

Reminiscing on that fractured part of time and the things that had been said there stopped the flow of conversation temporarily. But after a moment, they both recovered and began walking parallel to Valhalla's shoreline. Neither of them trusted the other to walk ahead, so they walked side by side, but at a distance.

As they were closing in on one of the gates, their path was suddenly blocked by a rift in the air. It was somewhat unfamiliar to Valhalla's scenery, as the rifts usually appeared elsewhere along the timeline. Lightning nearly ran into it, reeling back just at the right time. Then, tentatively, she looked at Caius.

"Shall we?" he asked.

Closing her eyes, she nodded.

And they both stepped straight into the temporal rift.


	10. Chapter Nine: Fading Miracle

**Oookay. I'm really not even sure what to say right now! But here's the next chapter, so...yeah.  
**

**I was too lazy to find any song lyrics this time around. Sorry :P**

**Anyway, hope you're having fun reading The Final Paradox!  
**

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Fading Miracle**

"I probably have some explaining to do," Noel laughed bitterly, running a hand through his hair. He still felt kind of lost, as though maybe this whole thing was a dream, maybe he wasn't really meeting Serah again.

"Yeah," Serah said, smiling a little. "How did you get here? And you said you saw Lightning. Is she here too?" she added hopefully.

"No, I don't think so." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I think what I saw was a vision from Valhalla. I came here through the gate in Yaschas Massif."

Serah cocked her head. Neither of them could be sure why a gate in Yaschas Massif would suddenly be an entrance to the Void Beyond.

"But… When we first encountered the paradox, I thought Caius was behind everything. And I wanted to find him and take him down. But instead, we ended up getting thrown through a bunch of gates to the wrong places."

"What do you mean?" Serah asked, confused.

"I think Caius is in Valhalla with Lightning. But for some reason, Lightning told me not to kill him." He threw his hands into the air. "I don't know why. Maybe we should go find her."

"Lightning… In Valhalla…" Serah repeated thoughtfully.

"The other thing she told me is…" Noel bit his lip as he searched for the right words. He didn't want to scare Serah, but he didn't want to keep her in the dark either. "She said the timeline is being destroyed. Everything that stays here in the Void too long is going to get erased."

"Then we have to go," Serah said. "Whatever way we can find to get out of here, we'll take it and get to Valhalla."

"That's the thing. How are we going to get out of here?" Noel asked.

"I thought I saw a gate on my way here," Serah told him. "It was in the very center of everything. Maybe it'll take us somewhere else."

"We can't go back down there. We'll get mauled," he answered. "Isn't there some other way?"

"There was only one of you earlier, Noel," she countered, "if we fight together, we'll be able to get through more easily."

Thinking of the brutal attacks the creatures had coordinated towards him as he'd made his way to the center of the Void, he reluctantly agreed.

"Let's go, then," Serah said. She jumped down from the edge of the center platform to another rock down below. As soon as her feet touched the ground, though, Noel could hear the click of the talons of nektons coming for them. Serah surveyed the surrounding area, pulled her weapon into her hand, and started to run.

He followed her, keeping an eye out for the Voidspawn monsters. From where they stood, they could see the gate clearly, glimmering with a strange light he hadn't seen in a gate before.

The nektons, meanwhile, didn't reach them for another few hundred feet. The mob closed in on them as they were nearing their destination. Noel drew his swords, still running, and tried to fight them off.

Serah reached the gate with a few more steps. He was so close, but as he was reaching for the gate, he tripped and went sprawling to the ground. Serah spun around and kneeled next to him, trying to help him up, but her form dissolved right then, disappearing through the gate.

"Serah!" Noel screamed. Fumbling for his sword, he attempted to slice through the rest of the monsters. But they kept swarming in on him. They overtook him right before he closed off the last few inches between himself and the gate, slashing madly at him, and within seconds he was drifting into darkness.

* * *

Serah set foot in Valhalla, her feet touching the sandy ground hesitantly, as though she was reluctant to enter without Noel. The gate closed behind her and disappeared. Everything that had just happened was replaying over and over in her mind, and yet she still hoped somewhere deep inside that Noel would emerge from that gate and step down right beside her.

It was pointless to think of it, though, Serah knew. She could still see him falling to the ground feet away from the gate and being overwhelmed by the Void's monsters. And there was nothing she could do. She was in Valhalla now. The gate coming from the Void was gone, and Noel was as well.

_What am I supposed to do?_

She thought back to what he'd said while they were still together in the Void.

_When we first encountered the paradox, I thought Caius was behind everything._

Then that meant Caius wasn't behind everything. But of course he wouldn't have been – Noel had killed him, right? Serah remembered it, and she had watched it with her own eyes.

If she remembered it so clearly, then why was she so sure now that it hadn't happened?

Then again, they had helped Snow defeat the flan in the Sunleth Waterscape, and it had returned from out of nowhere. That only left one possibility – something was very off about the timeline.

_I think Caius is in Valhalla with Lightning,_ Noel's voice said in her mind.

_Are they here with me now? _Serah answered silently.

_She said the timeline is being destroyed._

She shook her head, briefly attempting to figure it all out before another part of the conversation split into her thoughts.

_Will you stay with me, Serah?_

_Yes, Noel. I'm sorry…_

What had she done? Serah bit back a sob and fought to keep the tears from her eyes. She had abandoned Noel after promising him she'd be with him. Forgetting where she was for a moment, she was overwhelmed by the thought of being alone and collapsed to her knees.

After a minute she shook herself into reality. There had to be some way to find Noel, didn't there? She flashed back to what he'd told her again, about her sister and Caius potentially being here. Serah hung onto that thought, and stood up to glance at Valhalla's skyline.

One of the structures seemed to stand out, looking important. Not knowing what else she could do, she set her sights on that building. But just as she had decided to make her way in that direction, her eye caught a disturbance.

From out of nowhere came a huge rift in the sky; it gaped open like it aimed to consume everything in sight. But instead of growing larger, it stopped and ejected a creature that resembled one they'd seen many times before – though she couldn't remember exactly where. It had one arm that clawed at the empty air, and a face that was constantly contorted in agony. She knew she had to try to destroy it. Otherwise, it might destroy Valhalla. Drawing her weapon, Serah prepared to fire at it, but had a feeling this was a battle she couldn't win on her own.

* * *

On the other side of Valhalla, a smaller temporal rift had closed. Caius and Lightning materialized in thin air, both wearing grim expressions. They didn't face each other for a few moments.

"So," Caius said, "there are tears in the very essence of Valhalla, and if no one repairs them, Valhalla will collapse."

Lightning nodded. She too was having difficulty believing it. But what she was still struggling with was the fact that Caius was no longer trying to – or able to – kill her.

Suddenly, on the opposite side of where they stood, the sky exploded into a giant black hole and began to writhe as a creature emerged from it.

"Another rift," Lightning said. "Odin!"

But her Eidolon didn't come to her. There was absolutely no response whatsoever. Lightning turned to Caius.

"Is there any way we can make it over there in time?" she asked.

He didn't answer for a few moments, his gaze cast upward toward the sky and the rift. Then he said, "On one condition."

* * *

Serah was already exhausted. She'd fired at the beast a thousand times, dodged a thousand attacks, but had done little damage. Wondering vaguely if it was possible to die in Valhalla, Serah backed away from the creature, still poised to fire. But she barely had enough strength to stay on her feet, much less the strength to attack.

Just then, a portal of dark chaos opened up in front of her, much like the one that the rift creature had come through. But when the mist cleared from this one, two figures stood next to each other, hands temporarily linked. As they dropped their hands, trading the gesture for their weapons, Serah realized who she was looking at.

_My sister…and Caius._

They fought the creature, coordinating attacks and lashing out quickly at it. Neither of them even realized she was there. Serah stood in shock, unable to do anything but watch the fight.

_Lightning was holding Caius's hand._

No matter what she did, she couldn't rid her mind's eye of that image.

Their enemy drew back into its rift, leaving the shores of Valhalla in temporary peace. When Lightning turned around to see Serah kneeling next to the water, Serah's greeting was an openly stunned stare.

"Lightning," she whispered. "What did you do?"

Her sister stared back at her, and then her eyes widened. "How much did you see?" she asked.

"I was fighting this thing before you were," Serah said quietly. "You came—with Caius—"

Lightning opened her mouth to respond and then closed it again.

"What's going on?" Serah asked.

"Serah, look. It's not what you think," Lightning began.

Caius strode up to them, his typical emotionless mask covering his face. "Lightning," he muttered, "we should go."

"Leave us alone, Caius," Serah's sister shot back.

"There are more temporal rifts to repair," he replied. "Those, we should not leave alone." As he spoke, his eyes searched Serah's face, as if he could figure out how she had reached Valhalla without actually asking.

Lightning sighed. "Serah," she said, "you have to stay here. If you go out into the timeline, you might not come back."

Serah's eyes flickered from Lightning to Caius and back again. Her gaze clearly gave away that she didn't trust him.

"I have to go."

"No, Lightning, wait!" Serah blurted out, taking another step toward her sister.

Lightning started to say something, but as she did so, Caius shot her a look. She turned to Serah and, taking a deep breath, continued, "I'm sorry. I have a deal to uphold."

Then, glancing at Caius, her sister turned around and walked away, the black-clad warrior trailing after her.


	11. Chapter Ten: Misdirection

**Guten Tag from the world of The Final Paradox. This is probably the last chapter I'll post this month, although it's not the end of the story. Keep posted for when I continue! I'm doing NaNoWriMo, and I doubt I'll have time to finish anytime soon :P .  
**

**Anyway, for those of you who actually care what I'm doing in real life, I came extremely close to buying FF Dawn of Souls at a used game store last week. I decided against it at the last second, but the next day I thought about how I really should have bought it. I then called the store and asked them if they still had it in stock... And nope. It was gone.  
**

**So, I feel really smart now. (Not.) Anyway, that's enough about my nonexistent life. XD Here's your next chapter! Hope you like it!**

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Misdirection**

_I caught a glimpse of the future_

_I thought a hint might do_

_Tick tock, few minutes ago_

_I should have seen the signs years ago_

_Tried to warn them it was coming_

_Tried to tell them what I'd seen_

_~Believe, Morgan Page_

Noel, gasping for air, got to his feet. The surrounding area of the Void glimmered with shiny wings of creatures it had spawned, hundreds circling him as they prepared their attacks. They had taken him down time after time, and the Void had brought him back every one of those times, forcing him to keep fighting. He longed for dark unconsciousness to come and take him. In that realm he could escape from exhaustion and endless battles, at the very least. He could think of Serah freely instead of forever imagining her fading form being sucked through the gate.

That gate was gone. For all Noel knew, he was stuck in the Void forever, maybe doomed to be erased. He remembered what Lightning had told him about parts of the destroyed timeline remaining here for a short time before they disappeared. Was he a part of the destroyed timeline, or did he still have some anchor left in his world that would keep him from being wiped out of existence?

He swung outward with his sword, slicing more of the creatures that assaulted him. It did no damage, only brought additional ones to fill their places. So instead of trying to destroy them, he gave up and made a run for it.

Noel's sprint only barely brought him to the underground part of the temple in which he had stood with Serah. It was deadly quiet there, except for the sound of his own labored breathing. He hoped no one—that is, nothing—would know he was there.

When no disturbances found him after a few minutes, Noel let his guard down enough to collapse against one wall. He finally began adjusting to his surroundings. There was little light in this area of the structure, with the unearthly glow of the Void filtering in through cracks in the stone. It was a perfect hiding place for now. Or maybe forever, considering that the gate leading out of the Void had totally disappeared.

_Where would that gate have led us? _he thought. _Where is Serah now?_

He would rather die than be left forever without knowing what had happened to her.

For as long as he could, Noel stayed underground. And for a while he was left to his thoughts uninterrupted. He tried to direct his train of thought away from Serah, but there was nothing else to think about, and he found himself meanwhile unable to doze off in the relentless, timeless atmosphere of the Void. Wondering again and again what had happened to her, Noel drove himself into a panic, losing focus on his surroundings.

Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared unnoticed in front of him.

He looked up at the flash of light, blinking to make sure he wasn't hallucinating. His lips formed the incredulous word "Yeul?"

"Noel," she gasped as she collapsed to the ground.

He moved quickly to her. "Yeul, what's wrong? What are you doing here?"

Her gaze shifted slowly to him. "I will not be here for much longer, Noel," she whispered. "My part of the timeline is being erased, and I must be taken with it."

"No, Yeul." His breath came in short gasps, and he struggled to find words to voice his concern for her. "You can't—"

"You will forget me, Noel," she answered. "In fact, you've already forgotten me. This is my fate now, to be erased from eternity."

He shook his head. "But that doesn't make sense," he hissed, fighting back tears.

"I told you we would meet again, Noel," she reminded him, "and we are meeting now. But this is the last time."

With a small and final smile, Yeul's small form faded from Noel's vision as quickly as it had appeared.

"Yeul!" he screamed. "No!"

He had lost everyone he had known—Caius, Yeul, Serah, and everyone in between. Then he had met them all again, only to have them taken away—again. He didn't think he could take any more of it.

Noel knelt on the stone floor of the temple, his head in his hands, and screamed. His cries should have been heard throughout the entire timeline, but as he was in the Void Beyond, they merely echoed in his own ears.

As he did so, a bright light exploded behind him. He was engulfed in sparks for a second, and he stopped and tried to breathe for a moment before his vision went completely white.

* * *

Serah's head was still full of images of her sister walking away with Caius. She had to trust Lightning, but she couldn't stop feeling uncertain of what was really going on. _I have a deal to uphold, _she'd said.

_Lightning made a deal with Caius? What was she thinking?_

Serah shook her head and continued walking. She'd been at it ever since her sister had left Valhalla, and had almost reached the central temple where Etro's throne sat. No one was around.

It was times like this that made her really miss Noel's company. If only she had someone to talk to, even if it was about the timeline and the paradoxes and things like that. The dead silence that now enveloped Valhalla—save for the sound of the waves hitting the shore—was almost overwhelming. It was a reminder that she really was alone.

After a few minutes, she reached the stairs leading up to Etro's throne and the surrounding shrine. She took slow steps up to the surface, recognizing the scenery from the times she and Noel had landed themselves in the Void Beyond.

But something stood out that didn't carry over to her memories of the Void.

As she looked up at the skies from the shrine, she could see the timeline. Her gaze flitted along the line of events that played out before her. She could see remnants of times long lost, things she wished wouldn't disappear and things she wished wouldn't have happened.

Her eyes lingered on one place: Oerba. She too recalled the time they'd fought against Caius, but the events that followed that fight were unknown to her.

At first, she was confused by what she saw. But that confusion rapidly turned to surprise and anger.

She'd seen enough.

Serah quietly brought back the conversation she'd had with Lightning before her sister had left Valhalla. It had begun with, _How much did you see?_

_What's going on?_ Serah had answered.

_Serah, look. It's not what you think, _was Lightning's answer.

Feeling betrayed, and with her eyes cast down, Serah left the timeline behind. Her first thought had been to trust Lightning, but look how far that had gotten her. Now only one thought was left in her head. Whether Noel made it out of the Void or not, she knew her single goal.

_I have to kill Caius._

* * *

Noel was barely conscious as he drifted through space. He could hardly think, but he had managed to figure one thing out: he was no longer in the Void Beyond. How he had left, and where he was going, he at first had no clue…

Then it came to him. Yeul's fading wish must have been to get him out of there. Only she could have accomplished that. Without a gate, there was no way for him to escape unless he was completely erased.

Would he end up in Valhalla? Who knew? His thoughts were floating away from him again, and he gave in to the nothingness. Noel's only hope was that he could be with Serah. They had to finish what they'd started—saving the timeline.

But that was a vain hope.


	12. Chapter Eleven: Your Heart's Desire

**Hello again! I'm back. More chapters of The Final Paradox are on the way. :D  
**

**When I initially wrote this chapter, I was in an insanely good mood because I didn't expect to get to this part of the story. Everyone around me then was really tired and probably wondering who gave me coffee.  
**

**Thanks 0erbayunFang for all your reviews and stuff by the way. X3  
**

**And I don't own Square Enix, nor do I own any of these songs or their lyrics.  
**

**Planning on finishing this thing out! Reviews are welcome! :3**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Your Heart's Desire**

_When it seems all lost and I can't find_

_What I'm searching for_

_And I still believe that you know_

_Reaching out for something to hold_

_~Reaching Out – Nero_

Lightning had to fight hard not to say anything as she walked back through Valhalla. She hated having to leave her sister like this, but Serah coming in and witnessing the fight wasn't part of the plan. She would have to go back and find her later, she decided, when the deal had been sealed. At least she was in Valhalla and not part of the collapsing timeline.

"Do you prefer walking to teleporting?" Caius asked her amusedly.

"If it spares me from touching you, yes," Lightning shot back through gritted teeth.

His smirk disappeared and was replaced with a hardened glare. "Your sister's thoughts about what happened here make no difference."

"I don't want to just leave her here without an explanation," Lightning answered. "And in fact, if I don't have to, I won't—"

Caius shook his head. "Our deal still stands," he reminded her. "If you try to explain everything to her now, it could put her in more danger."

She knew Caius didn't care how much danger Serah was in. But Lightning didn't want to do that to her sister. She hated the way Caius was manipulating her, but at the same time she almost admired the sense of strategy.

She watched him closely, suddenly detecting something else behind the mask of displeasure and constant apathy. The expression she saw was almost undeniably…hunger.

Shaking off the spontaneous startled feeling she got, Lightning whirled around and started to walk again.

"Are you sure you want to walk all this way?" Caius asked.

"I'm sure," she told him. "Let's go."

They gradually made their way back to the opposite side of Valhalla with Lightning far in the lead. They'd both agreed that after they drove back the rift beast, they would go through the gate to Oerba and try to fix what was broken there. So when they finally reached the gate, seeing that it was still intact, there were no words between them. Lightning didn't even look back as she stepped through the gate.

But she had no idea what they were about to face.

* * *

Oerba wasn't an unfamiliar place to either Caius or Lightning. However, the amount of temporal rifts that seemed to appear as they resurfaced in the deserted town made it look like a whole new area. Caius's lips twisted into a snarl of annoyance as he looked upon the scene before them.

"Looks like we were a little late," Lightning muttered.

Caius was silent for a moment. "Where shall we start?" he asked finally, once again showing no emotion.

"Anywhere," Lightning responded.

She took a few steps forward, entering the first rift. Caius went after her. In half a second they were transported into the Void, where multiple disconnected paths led to a gate. Crystals floated scattered in the air, just asking to be reunited, and the tiles of the paths glittered as they awaited the steps of the two warriors. Lightning led the way through this first rift. When they reached the gate and came out into Oerba again, she felt a wave of relief.

"That wasn't so hard."

Caius glanced out at the rifts that were swarming over the town. "We must split up," he said.

She gave him a sideways glance. "Why?"

"We'll be able to fix the rifts more quickly." With that he stepped forward and entered the next temporal rift, leaving Lightning to her own devices.

She knew she could easily go back through the gate and leave him. But that would be breaking the deal, and would only encourage them to begin their eternal fight again. Leaving wouldn't fix anything. So Lightning took one last look at the spot where Caius had disappeared, and then stepped into a rift herself.

* * *

By the time Lightning had finished repairing her share of temporal rifts, she had witnessed so many memories from the Void that she thought her head was going to explode. The sight of them all had wiped her anger out of her system and replaced it with pure exhaustion and near sadness. There were experiences that had belonged to herself, her sister, other people and creatures she didn't know existed. There were memories that were long lost, memories that were being erased, and memories she felt a fresh stab of pain at when she looked at them again.

She could tell there was a difference between the Oerba they'd arrived in and the Oerba she now stood in. Before, the entire plaza had been covered in rifts, shimmering distortions in the air. But they'd managed to get rid of most of them. Still, who knew how long that had taken?

Lightning strode through Oerba feeling a little subdued. She let her thoughts wander, and they were pushed back to Caius's strange actions in Valhalla, the way he'd forcefully pushed her away from the all-consuming distortion. Saving her. For no apparent reason.

_Forget it,_ she told herself. _It doesn't matter._

But she found it harder and harder to tear her thoughts from it. Even the incident in Valhalla had her mind fighting its own battle. She didn't want Serah to see her with Caius, but at the same time, she really hadn't minded the feel of his hand against hers…

She climbed the steps to the deserted schoolhouse without even thinking about it, but then realized it was a good vantage point for looking at the rest of Oerba. She reached the roof and stared blankly out at the water for a moment. Shortly after, a sound from below shook her from her thoughts – the sound of footsteps, an indication that someone was there.

Of course. Who else?

Lightning jumped through a space in the broken glass on the roof's skylights, deciding against avoiding him. She emerged on the middle floor of the schoolhouse. This floor still bore windows that looked out on the rest of the town, but was more secluded than the roof. She moved forward slowly, wondering if Caius really hadn't heard her enter or if he was just ignoring her.

"Caius?" she asked quietly.

He turned around, covering up some expression of feeling as was typical of him. "Ah. You've returned."

"Yes. I think we're done here." Lightning sensed that he was hiding something from her, which didn't really surprise her, more unnerved her. They stood without saying anything for a while, but then Lightning broke in with "What is it?"

Caius's eyes flicked up to meet hers. "What is what?"

"There's something you're not saying." She aimed to get the truth from him right away, as directly as she could.

He sighed and turned to face one of the windows. "The Void holds memories of the past, belonging to others as well as myself."

"Yes."

"It causes me pain to remember them," he stated.

Lightning wasn't accustomed to hearing him say such things, but before she knew it, she was replying, "I know."

"I have seen the things I had forgotten," Caius continued. "But they will not last. Nor will your temporary memories."

"They're only temporary. They don't matter." Her eyes didn't meet his; they both stared at the sands beyond the window. "What happens now is what matters."

A few seconds passed without either one speaking. Then Lightning said, "I've held up my end of the deal. We should leave."

"No," Caius said quickly, and then looked down as if he hadn't meant for that to come out of his mouth. "There is one more thing."

She spun and looked up at him. "And what would that be?"

His eyes flashed with that strange emotion again, the same one Lightning had seen before they went off fixing temporal rifts. Her heart skipped a beat suddenly, and she wanted to slap herself. Something lay beyond that mask of displeasure that always seemed to be on his face.

Right at that moment she realized what it was.

Caius raised a gloved hand, and suddenly, his fingertips were brushing her face. Lightning drew in a breath, but didn't pull away.

"Face it," he said. "Your only concern in Valhalla was your sister's interpretation of what was going on."

She looked down, trying to deny it for at least a few more seconds. Caius dropped his hand and took a step toward her.

"Do you remember what I said in the Void?" Caius asked. "The time I met your sister?"

"What?" she breathed. They were so close to each other that they could have spoken in barely audible whispers and still understood each other clearly.

"Surrender to your heart's desire."

There was an electrifying moment during which everything clicked in Lightning's head, and then Caius pushed her swiftly against the wall, his lips brushing hers in a gentle but deliberate kiss. At first every instinct inside her told her to push back, get him away from her.

Instead she relaxed.

After hardly a second he took a step back, but Lightning was frozen to the spot, her heart racing. Before he could retreat from her, she grabbed his wrist to keep him from going anywhere. Her breath came quickly and her pulse pounded with the thought of what she had just done. It felt as though a thousand live wires had been plunged beneath her skin. But as she backed off, the full realization hit her in the face.

One side of her screamed, _What the hell just happened?_ The other side kept her eyes on him, wishing it would have lasted longer.

The first side won out. As Caius stared openly at her, Lightning muttered, "I… I should go," and left the deserted schoolhouse as quickly as she could.

She blinked hard as she strode through the village again, making sure she wasn't dreaming. Caius's kiss still lingered on her lips, and she hated herself for liking it. She had earlier refused to admit that she might have felt anything for him. But now it was too late. It had already happened, not a temporary memory, but one that would be burned in her mind for eternity. Lightning had even said it herself: _What happens now is what matters._

_No._ She had screwed things up. She was supposed to kill Caius, and instead she had managed to stop their eternal fight, make a deal with him…And now this? Lightning knew it was only him manipulating her, like he had earlier in Valhalla. Both times he'd done it for the same reason.

She broke into a run so as to get out of Oerba as fast as possible and rid herself of the immediate reminders.


	13. Chapter Twelve: Cause of Chaos

**For those of you who have been consistently following The Final Paradox, I am sooooo sorry for the delay! I just got really busy and kept forgetting to post. Here's your next chapter, hope you like it. :3  
**

**Arigato for the reviews! They make me happy! :D  
**

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Cause of Chaos**

_When you know it's over_

_And you're going down_

_Take everything and live for the moment_

_It's only gonna bring you down tonight_

_~Blue, Gemini_

Now that she'd seen everything, Serah's mind was off Noel and the Void. She cared only about going to the place she'd seen Lightning and Caius and ending things once and for all. Disregarding virtually everything she'd made sure to remember up to now, she raced off into Valhalla, toward the gate that led to Oerba.

Serah swore silently to herself that she wouldn't fail.

"Lightning," she murmured, "I won't back out this time. I won't let this happen to you."

With the gate only feet away, the last thing she could do was gather all her concentration and determination and ready her bow.

* * *

Lightning emerged into Valhalla mere minutes after Serah left. She began her walk into the familiar realm looking out for her sister. But after treading a few hundred meters, she realized that Serah was no longer there.

She didn't know what Serah had seen or done here. She couldn't have been gone forever, because she still existed in Lightning's memories, but how would she have gotten out of Valhalla? There were few gates left, and they were scattered wide across the shores, difficult to find. As for the view of the timeline in the center of it all, Lightning doubted her sister wanted to see all of that. Was she in the Void Beyond? Why would she have even voluntarily left Valhalla?

The questions that filled her head were only a temporary diversion from her confusion about what had happened earlier in Oerba. Striding onward, she tried to shake those distracting thoughts away.

* * *

The gate to Oerba reopened, and Serah took Lightning's place in the ruined village. She didn't even have a vague idea of where to go, yet she started off at a run, wanting to get wherever she was going as quickly as she could.

Her first thought, recalling her previous experience in Oerba, was to go to the deserted schoolhouse. Besides, that was where she'd seen them as she was watching the events playing out in the timeline. The silence surrounded her as she ran, making her feel as though she was the only one there. For a second she wondered if maybe she was mistaken. That thought was pushed back almost as soon as it had come to her.

It didn't take long to reach her destination. Drawing her weapon, Serah approached the ravaged building. She made her way up the steps and entered the middle floor, calling out, "Caius?"

There was no answer. "I know you're there," she continued, "Come out and fight."

"If you wish," Caius said mockingly from out of nowhere, and before Serah knew it, she was being slammed into one of the stone walls with a blade too close to her throat.

She wasn't disarmed, though, and was still able to draw her bow and point it up at his heart. Caius glanced down at the weapon and smirked. "You really think that will work?"

Serah said, "This is for Lightning." She shoved her weapon at him, prodding him with it in an attempt to push him back.

He raised his eyebrows. "You know what happened, then?"

She nodded tightly in reply.

"Your sister was not opposed to it," Caius answered.

"And how would you know that?" Serah gasped. "I swear… I swear I'll destroy you."

"Is that how it's going to be?" he said.

Serah moved her arm just slightly and changed her bow into a sword, which she jabbed at him with all her strength. He jumped away just in time, narrowly avoiding the attack. But he'd done exactly what Serah had wanted him to – his sword was no longer pressed into her throat. She quickly returned her weapon to its bow form, drawing and firing faster than he could open his mouth to speak again.

With a grunt, Caius moved swiftly out of the way, deflecting her arrow sideways with his massive sword. He glared at her. "Are you fighting for your sister, or defying her wishes?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Serah retorted. She rushed at him with her sword in front of her, but he just stood there without blocking, as though waiting for the blow to come.

She expected impact that never came. Her sword cut through thin air and left a wake of chaotic darkness.

"You don't even understand what's really going on here."

The voice came from behind her, and before she could register it, she went flying into the wall of the building. The force of the hit sent pain shooting through her limbs and left her gasping for breath on her hands and knees.

"I do understand, Caius," she managed between breaths. "And I'm telling you… Stay away from Lightning!"

"And why should I listen to you?" he asked sarcastically. Then he flicked his hand and sent her into the opposite wall. She screamed in agony and again collapsed, releasing her grip on her sword.

"This is none of your business," Caius answered. "As I've told you before, you have no right to change the timeline."

She couldn't even look up at him.

"Stay out of my way," he finished, and stalked out of the abandoned schoolhouse, leaving her on her own.

Serah blinked hard, trying to wake up, but her vision was blurring and she didn't think she could hang on any longer. _This didn't work at all like it was supposed to._

Her last thought was, _Now what's Lightning going to do?_

Before she could think things through any further, she blacked out.

* * *

The timeline was in peril, and nothing was being done to stop it.

Rifts sprang up in Valhalla, with no one present and alert to fix them. Gates were completely wiped out along with the places they had once led to.

Serah was alone in Oerba. Noel was floating through the Historia Crux. Lightning was spacing out in Valhalla. And Caius… Who knew where he was or what he was plotting next?

Only one thing was for sure. Things were not going as planned.

The throne in the center of Valhalla had been empty before, but now a slightly transparent figure seemed to levitate slightly above it. She looked almost crystal, looked almost as though she didn't belong in this world. Her expression was disappointed, and a sigh escaped her lips as she glanced out at the skyline. Her intentions had been good, but once again, the outcome had been disastrous. Or at least it was going to be disastrous if those four didn't do what was required of them.

There was virtually nothing she could do. If she tried to change things again, she might completely fade away to nothingness. The result – more unintentional disappearances, more tears in the timeline.

And so for that time, she vowed not to reveal herself.


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Promised Eternity

**Hey everybody! 2013 is just around the corner for me! :D Wherever you are have an awesome New Year!  
**

**0erbayunFang and Moons-Chan - Thanks for the reviews! And yeah... It's true, nothing is going quite right. Mwahaha... Just kidding. Sort of.  
**

**The next chapter is called Promised Eternity, because, well, it's about Caius and Light. And because that's the song I discovered while I was writing this. Not a bad choice of background music for reading it either... :3  
**

**I realized I used the same lyrics as last week, so I had to change them... I know I'm so absent-minded... But just go with it. Arigato!**

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Promised Eternity**

_Dropping your bombs now_

_On all we've built_

_How does it feel now to watch it burn, burn, burn?_

_Raise your weapons, raise your weapons and it's over_

_~Raise Your Weapon, Deadmau5_

Lightning was perched on top of a structure in Valhalla, looking over the lifeless realm before her. She thought of Caius yet again and ended up biting her lip to try to forget the feeling of his mouth against hers. Things made more sense now, but in a way, that only further confused her.

The reasons he must have had for bringing her to Oerba, for pushing her away from the distortion.

Caius clearly had feelings for her. But how was that possible? They were destined to fight forever in Valhalla, and yet here she was sitting alone with her gunblade lying across her lap. Sitting alone with only memories of him in Oerba, with her emotions conflicting rather than their two blades.

She tilted her head back to look at the sky and her thoughts circled back to the Oerba incident. She couldn't allow herself to want this so much. If she was supposed to hate him with every cell in her body, then why couldn't she stop thinking about him? And if she reciprocated his feelings, then why did she still hold her grudge?

Lightning shook her head to clear it. She leaped down off her perch and began to wander along the shores of Valhalla. There was something that had very obviously changed since she had last been here – the number of temporal rifts had increased exponentially, springing up from the sands nearly everywhere she could look. Shaking her head, she realized that the only thing she could do was go through each one and fix it.

Was this a result of their expedition in Oerba, she wondered, or something completely different?

She decided that if it was directly related to the temporal rifts in Oerba, she would rather have Oerba erased than have the timeless Valhalla, the timeline's current anchor, erased. And with that thought, Lightning walked straight-on into the first distortion.

She reappeared mere seconds later. This rift had been caught early on, and hadn't done much damage, nor did it need much work to be repaired. Thinking that this must have been the case for the other rifts she faced, the warrior moved forward a few paces into the sea of rifts.

But of course, things were never that simple.

Right before her, another huge distortion exploded, throwing her backward. She hit the ground hard, the air knocked out of her lungs for a second, but pulled herself onto her feet quickly, trying to stay alert. Then the distortion changed direction like a wave. It began to draw everything toward it instead of pushing it back. Lightning drew her sword and planted it in the ground in an attempt not to be sucked into the black hole.

Her efforts, though, were in vain. The dark distortion stopped its pull on gravity for a few seconds, and then it blew everything to pieces.

But all Lightning witnessed was an ear-shattering blast and a complete flash of white.

* * *

Caius staggered mid-step for the thousandth time. He was praying that there really was no one around.

The truth was, he was in trouble, and even he had to realize that.

He'd successfully taken Lightning's sister Serah out of the picture with no issues, but after that was when the problems had begun. Caius had been on his way back to the gate when he'd felt a strange sensation, like his heart fluttering. A sign of weakness, of failure. He had stumbled then too, but refused to admit that anything was wrong.

_The Heart of Chaos does not weaken._

Still, trying to leave Oerba was starting to seem nearly impossible. He could barely take ten steps without that feeling returning to him again. Darkness had crept around the edges of his vision multiple times, and he had fought it every one of those times, not allowing himself to give in.

Finally, the gate was in sight. Disregarding the strange sensation he had, Caius broke into a run. He was suddenly determined to make it out with no more incidents.

But just inches before the gate, the lightheadedness came back to him again, and he was forced to stop, sinking to his knees just in front of it. He took a deep breath to steady himself. Slightly annoyed, he reached out to enable himself to enter the flow of time and return to Valhalla.

Caius wondered what could be causing the sensation he felt.

_Should this heart stop beating, the goddess will die once again._

He came to an unwanted realization: if Etro died, he would die. If he died, Etro would die. And he was supposed to be the cause of Etro's death, not vice versa.

But before he could finish that thought, he entered Valhalla and his mind went blank. Shattered stone and glass lay everywhere, surrounding him at every step. But that wasn't what surprised him. The thing that caught him off guard was the fact that Lightning was lying listlessly on the shore, in the middle of all of this. Her blade had slipped from her hand, and her eyes were closed as though she was merely asleep.

Caius went to her and knelt beside her, watching, wondering if she'd open her eyes and threaten to kill him. But she did nothing of the sort.

His hand seemed to move of its own accord, brushing her face. He found his fingers touching her lips lightly, pushing loose strands of hair away from her forehead. Then, quickly, he drew back. He knew he would be going too far if he thought he could change things between them. It was one thing to acknowledge feelings; it was another to act on them. He knew the right thing to do would be to kill her now.

But he had no will to even reach for his blade.

Caius stood, turning from her, and sighed. He wanted to walk away right then, to pretend nothing had ever happened, but something kept him from doing so. He wanted to know what exactly had gone on here.

And so he sat and stretched out his legs next to Lightning's unmoving form, vowing to keep watch until he knew for sure it was over.

When Caius opened his eyes, he realized he'd fallen asleep, sitting up no less. Relief flooded him as he realized no one was there. Lightning, meanwhile, still lay unconscious a few feet away. He couldn't fight the urge to reach over and put his hand over hers.

He was dragged back into reality with a jolt when she opened her eyes and glared tiredly up at him.

"What are you…? What are you doing here?" Lightning's voice was weak, like she could barely say the words, didn't have the energy to rekindle her grudge against him. But when she saw his hand resting on top of her own, she jerked back.

"You caused that distortion, didn't you? So you could take advantage of me?" Just like that her eyes were aflame with hatred. "What's your problem? Why can't you just—" She broke off, shaking her head.

"Distortion?" he questioned. "What do you mean?"

She flung a hand out into the air. "There was a distortion that tore up half the shore here. Don't act like you don't know."

"I did not cause the distortion. I was keeping watch until you came to." Caius watched her as he explained, though her eyes never met his.

Lightning's gaze snapped to him suddenly, suspicion and anger mixed with something else showing in her eyes. Then she looked away with a sigh.

"Th…Thank you," she said simply.

She stood up and walked a few paces away, facing the fractured and stony structures that lined the shore. After a minute, she spoke quietly. "I'll spend the rest of my time here, won't I," she ventured. "Fixing the timeline."

"Yes." Caius's answer was only half aware, not really looking any more into it than he had to. He watched her for a moment, but when he saw her back was still turned, he turned and walked across the sands, in the direction of another gate.

Lightning found herself short of breath at the thought of staying alone in Valhalla without him, a thought she knew shouldn't have ever crossed her mind. "Wait," she called.

He looked back, his expression devoid of emotion as usual. But she kept on. "Caius," she whispered. "Please. Stay here."

There was a second of agonizing silence.

Finally he nodded. He was looking into her eyes, and she into his. The frozen seconds in between were full of unnecessary thoughts that were quickly chased away.

Caius took a step forward, and when he leaned down to her their lips met again. This time neither of them pulled away for a long time.

When they finally drew back from each other, Lightning's thoughts came back to her. She realized that what she'd been avoiding all this time had finally happened, but now she hardly had any reason to avoid it. Whatever events had kept them from doing this had been erased from the timeline.

"Caius," Lightning said after a lengthy silence, "thank you."

"What?" he asked.

But she was already on her way to the next group of rifts, whatever they might be. Caius hurried after her, contemplating her words.


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Confessions

**Okay, I KNOW this is a really short chapter. I'm sorry. But I promise I'll have Chapter 15 up in the next couple of days!  
**

**I've really spaced out during the past few months... So I apologize.  
**

**But I hope this clears up some things about this very confusing story X3. I'll post more soon!**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen: Confessions**

_You kept everything inside and_

_Even though I tried, it all fell apart_

_What it meant to me will eventually be_

_A memory of a time when I tried so hard_

_~In The End, Linkin Park_

With a sad smile on her face, the strange levitating figure on the throne in the center of Valhalla watched the events taking place before her eyes. Another change, another twist would cause her to disappear quietly into the abyss. But along with revoking her power the twist might completely screw up the timeline.

Etro acknowledged that the whole thing was her fault.

It had started with saving the l'Cie and gone from there. The twist at the end of the timeline had ultimately sealed it for her, as she had taken too much power bringing herself back into Valhalla. It was true, she had nearly died, but before all was lost, she had managed to cut off the final few hours in the timeline and bring herself back.

It was all clearly backfiring on her. Instead of redoing what had already happened, she had changed it into a paradox.

No one had been able to realize it yet, because their memories had been wiped clean. But it was the truth. The entire timeline in itself was a paradox. Events were scattered all over the place, people were where they shouldn't have been. And they thought it was just a regular occurrence.

They thought they could fix it.

It was all doomed to be erased, though. Her existence would fade, her heart would give out, and eventually, the same would become of the timeline. No doubt she would take others with her when she left the timeline prematurely. But there was truly nothing she could do anymore.

She shook her head in regret. If only. There were so many things she could have done, and so many things she shouldn't have done. Maybe if she'd thought things through, she could have let the timeline end without so much grief and loss.

_Was it really too much to ask to change it another time?_

Yes. It really was. She had already asked this, so many times, but she wouldn't just be taking herself out of the picture if she abused the timeline any further. And even if she didn't do anything else, though, there was someone else who was fading fast, someone who she had already taken down with her.

No, things were definitely not going as planned.

* * *

Serah slowly opened her eyes. The light was dim here, but it still took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust. Her head was pounding and it felt like every inch of her body was sore. She remembered where she was after a moment—Oerba. She'd seen Caius and Lightning together. She had fought Caius in defense of her sister. And she had lost.

Realizing that an anxious pair of eyes was watching her, Serah sat up with a jolt.

"You're awake," said Noel.

"H…How did you…?" Serah couldn't even finish her sentence. Was she dreaming? There seemed to be a complete blank space between when she'd fought Caius and when she'd woken up here.

"I came from the Void. I don't know how. But somehow I just…ended up here." Noel's hand was gripping hers, as if he was nervous about something.

"…What's wrong?" was her immediate response.

He hesitated.

"Noel," she said, "really… What's going on?"

"We can't stay here," Noel told her. "I saw it in the Historia Crux. Oerba is going to be erased next. If we stay…"

He broke off, but Serah caught on and struggled to her feet. "Then let's go. Let's get out of here."

"Serah, no—you're not strong enough yet—" Noel protested, still grasping her hand. But she didn't falter in her movements.

"There's no other choice," she told him. "Let's go."

She staggered toward the door, trying to pull Noel after her. He dropped back and turned his eyes away.

"Noel? Is something wrong?" Serah faced him, one hand on the crumbling door frame.

"What happened between you and Caius?" he asked cautiously.

Serah took a deep breath. "I tried to… I tried to fight him. But I lost."

"Why?"

She glanced up, not expecting that question. "What?"

"Why would you fight him?"

"He and my sister… They were together in Valhalla. I thought maybe—" She shook her head. "I thought he was going to try something. I didn't want Lightning to have to deal with him anymore."

Noel paused, but then said, "Guess we're going to have to go back to Valhalla and find him again, huh?"

Serah blinked. "What do you mean?"

He cocked his head and smiled almost cunningly, making her heart skip a beat. "We gotta finish what we started."

"Yeah," she said, "I guess we do."


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Endless Paradox

**Good afternoon, wherever you are! This is IridiumRing92 speaking.  
**

**We're getting cloooose... So a warning to you in advance. I might not get the next chapter out in a week. It might be more. Sorry! DX  
**

**Anyway, this is, in fact, Chapter Fifteen. These confusing paradoxes are bringing out everyone's emotions...whether they make sense or not. Hope you enjoy it :3  
**

**And lastly, I don't own Square Enix or anything pertaining to Final Fantasy XIII-2. You know, if I did, I'd genetically modify myself to turn into Nobuo Uematsu or something.  
**

**Ah, speaking of that, the song "To Zanarkand" is pretty awesome. Add that to the soundtrack for when you're reading. :D  
**

**Bye for now...**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Endless Paradox**

_Things aren't the way they were before_

_You wouldn't even recognize me anymore_

_Not that you knew me back then_

_But it all comes back to me_

_In the end_

_~In The End, Linkin Park_

They'd long since finished with the temporal rifts on the outer edges of Valhalla, and Lightning and Caius were taking refuge under the roof of a forgotten structure higher up in the air. They sat close, Lightning leaning her head on Caius's chest. She'd finally given up her death-grip on control and allowed herself to be at ease around him.

"Your heartbeat," Lightning said quietly.

"What of it?" Caius answered.

"It sounds… Different." She looked up, and her eyes locked with his. "Is everything really okay?"

"I don't know."

Lightning could hear in his voice the way he hated having to say those words.

"I believe the Heart of Chaos is…fading," he muttered.

"What do you mean?" she asked carefully.

Caius said nothing for a while. Finally, looking away, he told her, "The Heart of Chaos has been faltering ever since I left Oerba."

She sat forward and twisted around to meet his eyes. "Oerba?" she asked cautiously. "Why were you in Oerba?"

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "It doesn't matter," was his answer.

"You wouldn't have gone there without a reason," she spat, glaring at him.

Caius finally looked her in the eye. "Your sister challenged me."

"What?"

"She wanted a fight." His gaze drifted to the horizon.

"And you gave her one, I'm guessing?" Lightning's tone was hard, threatening anger if he dared to give the wrong answer.

He did. "Yes."

"Why would you do that?" Lightning hissed. "You know she's not strong enough to even be a match for you."

"She needed a reminder," Caius replied. "A reminder that the timeline cannot be changed and things are going to happen as they will."

"Serah knows that," Lightning shot back. "She wouldn't—"

"She saw us together in Oerba." Caius spoke quietly, but it was enough to force Lightning to pause midsentence.

She was completely speechless for a moment.

"I need a break." Lightning stood up and walked to the edge of the platform. She strode across the fractured pieces of rock and past a seared time gate, descending to the shores with quiet steps. Caius watched her slender form disappear resignedly at first, but then decided to follow.

He walked over to where she had stopped and slipped an arm around her waist. She seemed to freeze at his touch, but still he leaned down to whisper close to her ear.

"The only thing we can do is stay and fix the rifts." His voice was soft like the breeze that crept through the timeless realm. But Lightning didn't react. So he continued: "Nothing else. It is just the two of us here, in Valhalla."

Caius opened his mouth to say something else, but she spun around to face him, her eyes alight with anger. "So why would you go to Oerba to fight Serah?" she demanded. "So you could erase her from the timeline?" Her fist was clenched, as though she was ready to summon her gunblade to her hand.

"I did not seek out Serah in Oerba," he replied carefully, "she came to me."

"But—why did you—?" Lightning found herself speechless, and threw her hands into the air.

Caius then caught her by the wrists, drawing her toward him. She inhaled sharply at this but nonetheless found herself staring into his eyes.

A half smile crossed his face. "I didn't kill her, Lightning. I only…subdued her."

She sighed and looked away. But Caius kept his eyes on hers. Lightning knew what was coming, though she didn't intend to stop it. Neither of them moved for a moment—they were focused on each other despite the fact that a flash of light came from behind them. Both, of course, ignored it…

He took another step forward, leaning in toward her. Lightning closed her eyes and—

"Get away from her!" A high-pitched shriek pierced the air, and when the two of them looked up they saw a familiar figure running at Caius with a sword.

Blades clashed, sparks flew. When the sudden movements had ceased, an unlikely scene unveiled itself.

Serah and Lightning stood with swords crossed. Serah's face was full of betrayal and hurt, while in Lightning's eyes seemed to burn only anger and aggression. Caius was behind her, his own face revealing surprise. He was completely stunned. His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, never having drawn it.

Lightning put a slight bit of force into her gunblade and sent Serah sprawling on the ground. Her sister looked up at her with pleading eyes, but Lightning only set her jaw and hissed, "No, you stay away from him."

And then there was complete silence—until Lightning sheathed her gunblade and turned away from Serah.

"Lightning!" another voice called out from somewhere in the shadows. The three of them turned and watched as Noel stepped out into what seemed like an arena of emotions.

"Didn't you tell me to bring her to you?" he challenged. "And now you're shutting her out? What are you thinking?"

"Bring her to me?" Lightning answered coldly. "I never said that."

"It's the timeline," Caius broke in. "It is tearing apart, and taking our memories with it."

"Whose side are you on?" was Lightning's response.

"Look," Noel said. "We've already been through this. All we have to do is fix the rifts and make sure nothing else is destroyed. If we can do that, at least—"

"That has nothing to do with this!" Serah was struggling to her feet. She stalked toward Caius, a determined look replacing the pleading one that had masked her face before. "You should learn some respect. I already told you. Keep away from Lightning!"

And with that she swung the blade straight at him. He stood as though waiting for it, and then caught it with his gloved hand.

Somewhere in the distance, they heard an explosion. Another rift. They all ignored it, though, as they were too focused on the fight. Serah tugged her sword from his grasp. As her eyes narrowed in concentration and she brought the blade toward him once more, Caius gasped and doubled over suddenly, hands flying to his throat as if he could barely breathe. Serah's weapon cut through the air right over his head.

"Serah, this is not your battle," Lightning spat. "You two, get to the rift. I'll stay here."

"Come on," Noel answered, and he pulled Serah by the arm away from Caius and Lightning. "We'll finish this later!" he yelled back at them as he ran.

She could still hear her sister's protests as she knelt next to Caius. "What is it?" she asked. She tried to brush his hair out of his face, but he jerked back.

"It's nothing." He rose to his feet again. "Let's go."

Lightning dared not question him any further as she walked after him in the direction of the rift.

* * *

"It's… It's too much," Serah whispered, sliding to the ground in front of the rift that had opened in the sky. It had been growing bigger ever since they'd arrived, and it had expanded to the size of a storm cloud, too large for them to even try to attack it. The thing looked like a tear in Valhalla that opened to some darkness beyond.

"Why isn't this one going away?" Noel growled. "We've fixed so many rifts before…"

Serah gasped beside him, unable to answer. He turned to her and saw her eyes gleaming with an unearthly light—just as they had numerous times before, specifically the first day when they'd witnessed Snow being erased from the Sunleth Waterscape.

"Serah!" he exclaimed, rushing to her side. "What's…what's happening?"

Her eyes fluttered closed, and a tranquil expression graced her face. "Eternity," she murmured.

"What is it?" Noel asked, taking one of her hands in his. "Serah, answer me!"

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "It's over…"

"What does that mean? What are you talking about?!"

She opened her eyes and looked at him, no trace left of the expression of contentment that had been on her face a few seconds ago. "Thank you, Noel." As she spoke, a tear slid down her cheek.

"Serah, no!" he screamed. "Don't leave me…"

Lightning and Caius came running to them at that moment. "What is this?" Lightning demanded. "What have you done?"

Noel barely even heard her voice. The rift beside them exploded in light, engulfing all of them for a second. When they could see again, Serah Farron was gone.

* * *

From her throne at the center of the timeless realm, Etro saw this. She shook her head as she realized this might be the last thing she saw.

_If only._

She couldn't finish that sentence, for it would go on forever. She'd changed enough. Now they would all pay the price.

_I'm sorry…_

With those words crossing her mind, she vanished without a trace from the horizon.


	17. Chapter Sixteen: The Final Paradox

**I'm back, finally. Sorry about the wait!**

**Anyway, these are the final chapters of The Final Paradox. I'm kind of sad to be done with it, honestly. To anyone who's been following and supporting it the whole time: Thank you! You're the reason I'm still here.**

**Well, I'd better just stop typing and get to it. It's 3 AM where I am...**

* * *

**Chapter Sixteen: The Final Paradox**

_Waiting for the end to come_  
_Wishing I had strength to stand_  
_This is not what I had planned_  
_It's out of my control_  
_Flying at the speed of light_  
_Thoughts were spinning in my head_  
_So many things were left unsaid_  
_It's hard to let you go_

_~Waiting for the End – Linkin Park_

Lightning, Caius and Noel turned on each other, Lightning brandishing her blade.

"Noel Kreiss," Lightning breathed. "What have you done with Serah?"

"She's—she's gone," Noel gasped. "This is all your fault!" With that he pulled himself to his feet, drawing his blade in response.

Lightning slid into a fighting stance, preparing to counter. But Noel didn't go after her. Instead he flung himself at Caius, both swords flying. Caius had no time to draw and ducked instead. He looked as though he'd return blows, but instead he completely slid to the ground again, gasping for air.

Lightning waited for him to get back up and claim it was nothing as he had before. Instead, he stayed there, even as Noel was standing over him with one of his swords pointed straight at his back.

"Don't touch him," Lightning found herself saying.

"_What_?" Noel replied, turning and looking at her. "It's his fault your sister's gone, and you tell me not to touch him?"

"It's not his fault," Lightning murmured. "It's everyone's."

Noel looked from Lightning to Caius and back again. Then, slowly, he sheathed his blade.

"Get away from here," she continued. "The timeline is deteriorating. If we're not careful we'll end up just like she did."

"But, Lightning—"

"Get out of here, Noel," Lightning repeated.

He stared at her for a moment, but finally turned and jogged away along the line of water.

Lightning pulled Caius up by one arm and dragged him into the shadow of one of the stone buildings, ducking out of Noel's sight.

"Caius," she whispered. "What's happening?"

He couldn't even find enough breath to formulate the words to explain.

Lightning touched his jaw lightly, turning his face towards her. "Is this…?"

"The Heart of Chaos," Caius managed to gasp. "It must stop beating for Etro."

"What do you mean?" Lightning demanded.

"The goddess," he breathed, "is dead."

_The goddess?_ What had happened to Etro? A million thoughts went through Lightning's mind at once. Maybe Etro was erased; maybe there was no change in the timeline; maybe it was part of the paradox. Yet even with all of these possibilities coming to her, none of them formed a clear answer for her.

She snapped back to reality. Caius grimaced as he struggled to keep control of himself, but still his strength was leaving him and he collapsed into her arms.

"Caius," Lightning murmured, "you can't leave me here. It's an imbalance in the timeline…"

"There was an imbalance from the beginning," he hissed through clenched teeth. "And that… That is why I…"

She waited, but he didn't finish. "What?" she asked, waiting for him to continue.

His hand flew up to take hers. "Lightning…" he breathed.

"No, Caius. You can't leave." She willed him to stay with her, but knew it was inevitable. "Pull yourself together."

The hint of a smirk formed on his face, as though he was recalling their endless battles. But he didn't reply for a few moments. Instead he closed his eyes and focused on breathing.

Lightning set her jaw. She wouldn't show emotion, not even now, not even when she had become so close to Caius. _It's only part of the paradox, and never should have happened at all. Our relationship is a mistake._

She wouldn't believe herself. Those were words that meant absolutely nothing, especially not after this paradox had erased so many people she'd known.

"You replaced them," she said in a painful whisper.

Caius turned his gaze slowly to hers. She continued, "I lost all those people I used to know in the paradox. And in their place—"

He shook his head. "No. You must not think of it that way."

"Caius…" she said.

With that she leaned over him, brushing her lips against his.

He whispered to her his last words.

"I… I shall…remember you…"

And Caius Ballad vanished.

* * *

Lightning squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, fending off emotion. When she opened them again she saw a shadow standing way above her, a silhouette against the masses of stone and background of a dark, swirling sky.

Noel.

"Lightning!" he called out from his perch.

She glanced up for only a moment, and then looked down in resignation.

"What kind of game are you playing?" he shouted.

In response, she turned and walked away. But he jumped down and followed her.

"Lightning," he said breathlessly when she stopped walking at the water's edge. "What is this? You pushed your sister away as she fell into the Void. And against all odds—" The pause seemed to be painful for him. "You and Caius were_ together_."

The conviction, the disgust with which he said the word hit her hard. She whirled around to face him. "This has nothing to do with you. Leave me alone and I told you, get out of Valhalla!"

"But you don't understand," he pleaded. "Serah… I…" Noel sounded as though he were on the verge of tears. "How could you take her away from me? How could you take her away from _everyone_?"

"I did nothing to cause this," Lightning retorted. "You twisted the timeline. You ultimately destroyed it."

"And so did Caius." Noel's tone had changed; his voice was now thick with renewed hatred.

They were at a stalemate. Both of them stood still as statues, glaring at each other. Then suddenly a crash like thunder ripped through Valhalla's skies, and a jagged rift pulled the clouds apart to reveal a dark void behind them. Noel and Lightning both cried out as the ground shook violently.

And as quickly as it had come, it was gone. The two of them pulled themselves to their feet and glanced at each other.

"Serah," they both said at the same time.

Then Noel gasped, his hand snapping up to meet his forehead. He grimaced as he stepped back, looking like he was in pain. Within seconds Lightning felt it too: a force like a vortex sucking something out of her mind. She fell to the ground, the name "Caius" escaping her lips one final time.

And then that word, that name was merely a specter of what had been. It meant nothing to her.

"Lightning!" Noel cried out as another rift opened behind him. He drew his sword instinctively and dashed away from it. But it opened wider, like a gaping maw waiting to swallow them. The weight in his right arm was suddenly gone, and he saw that his sword had dissolved completely—and that the rift was taking the rest of his arm too.

Lightning dashed forward, clamping a hand around his other wrist and attempting to drag him backwards. But before she even touched him, she knew it was no use. She'd seen her share of rifts—those that had sealed her memories away, those that opened on the shore of Valhalla, and the one that had exploded, temporarily leaving her at the mercy of Caius.

Somehow she already knew this one wouldn't let Noel go.

Noel fought the rift, jerking backwards, trying to pull himself back into space. Yet the harder he fought, the more of him it seemed to consume.

His whole arm was completely gone. He was dissolving into the rift by the second.

Finally he looked back at her, eyes shining. "Let go," he said in a voice that threatened to break. "Let me go."

"What—?!" But before Lightning had even gotten the word out of her mouth, he wrenched his arm from her grasp. One second he was looking straight at her, seeming to plead with her one last time, and then—

And then he was gone. He was gone and the rift had disappeared with him.

Dead silence enveloped Valhalla. Lightning shook her head. Everything, it seemed, was forsaken. Even Valhalla's timeless shores were being consumed by the paradoxes. They'd done what they'd feared the most—torn the timeline apart.

Valhalla, the anchor that held it all together, was on the brink of destruction too.

Every step Lightning took was heavy as she walked back up to the center temple of Valhalla, where Etro's throne had once stood. Now there was no trace of it. And the visions that Valhalla had once shown her of the timeline had all turned to skewed images of dust and ash and things no longer animate.

She didn't even have the strength to shed tears. She could only stand and watch it.

Then it happened again. Right in front of her, the ground exploded, tearing open with unparalleled force. Lightning knew what was coming. A second later, something seemed to slam hard into the back of her skull, and her memories were gone.

The other rifts didn't close. They opened wider, like a thousand fanged maws, starting a chain reaction and splitting the ground into hundreds of new temporal rifts. Lightning stared out at it, something flickering at the edge of her memory, but it was all in vain. The shard of memory was gone before she could even hold onto it.

As she looked out into the sea of rifts surrounding her, her darkest thoughts surfaced.

Lightning knew it was over. She had long known it was over. But there was one thing that she refused to do—die a phantom, a coward. So as Valhalla dissolved around her, and with it the cries of those lost in the Void Beyond—as her memories left her, one by one, of Serah, of Caius, of everyone—she did the only thing she could.

She drew her gunblade against the torrent, and looked fearlessly into the darkness.


	18. Epilogue: Oblivion

**I don't know what to say about this, exactly. Except that I named this chapter "Oblivion" because of something Caius says in the beginning of the game -**

_**Oblivion is the fate of all things.**_

**Anyway, farewell for now. Thanks everyone! And don't worry, I have some new stuff up my sleeve. I'll be back.  
**

**IridiumRing92 signing off.**

* * *

**Epilogue: Oblivion**

_Taking control of the elements_

_Making it mine, making it mine_

_Taking control of my destiny_

_Making it fine, making it fine, making it_

_~Afterglow, Phaeleh_

Time and space had collapsed. But as they would, they began to rebuild themselves again, broken strands of time healing into new ones, creating something new. Valhalla was at the center of this regeneration, an influx of new life pouring into it. It became the anchor of the timeline yet again, as the gods watched over it.

Time and space weaved themselves into a new world. This world knew nothing of Cocoon, or Pulse, or the Purge. It held no battles against paradoxes, against rifts. It had not yet seen an eternal fight to rival that of Caius and Lightning's.

There was hope in this world, in this timeline. All was not lost.

Valhalla was still. It was an unscarred reincarnation. No trace of what had been shown in this place. There was no guardian, no time-travelers, no seeress. It was empty. It could only stand silently in the hope that the new world would adopt its share of inhabitants.

And yet, somewhere in the ethereal, it still held the image of a crystalline warrior sitting on Etro's throne, with her gunblade across her lap.

* * *

**THE END  
**


End file.
